THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


STUDIES  IN  HISTORY,  ECONOMICS  AND  PUBLIC  LAW 

EDITED  BY  THE  FACULTY  OF  POLITICAL  SCIENCE 
OF  COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY 

Volume  XLIX]  [Number  1 

Whole  Number  122 


BRITISH    RADICALISM 

1791-1797 


BY 

WALTER  PHELPS  HALL,  Ph.D. 

Sometime  Fellow  in  History,  Columbia  University 


HSitm  Work 
COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY 

LONGMANS,  GREEN  &  CO.,  AGENTS 

London  :  P.  S.  King  &  Son 

I912 


Copyright,  1912 

BY 

WALTER  PHELPS  HALL 


lO 
WILLIAM    MARTIN    RICHARDS 


PREFACE 


Today,  with  Kulturgeschichte  almost  orthodox,  and 
radicalism  made  respectable,'  it  is  unnecessary  to  apol- 
ogize for  the  subject  of  this  dissertation.  Concern- 
ing its  treatment,  however,  the  author  feels  no  such 
assurance.  His  original  endeavor  was  to  describe  the 
political  organization  of  radicalism  which,  by  the  constit- 
uent nature  of  the  House  of  Commons,  existed  perforce 
beyond  the  pale  of  that  body.  But  upon  further  study, 
organized  radicalism,  when  compared  with  theoretical, 
appeared  in  significance  inconsequential  and  abortive. 
Therefore,  the  emphasis  has  been  shifted  to  an  analysis 
of  radical  theory.  That  analysis  is  far  from  complete. 
To  trace  with  accuracy  the  influence  of  either  Paine  or 
Godwin  alone,  would  be  no  small  task.  This  treatise 
does  not  pretend  to  treat  the  radicalism  of  the  period 
comprehensively  or  exhaustively.  Its  aim  is  to  construct 
a  just  and  well-proportioned  synthesis  of  radical  opinion. 

In  the  introduction,  the  framework  of  British  society 
within  which  radicalism  operated,  has  been  briefly  sum- 
marized in  its  more  characteristic  features.  Therein  the 
changes  of  the  economic  structure  of  society  at  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century  are  deemed  worthy  of  first 
consideration,  and  second  only  to  them  in  importance  is 
a  catalog  of  those  cumbersome  and  antiquated  statutes 
which  so  clogged  the  wheels  of  British  progress. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  dissertation  the  author  has 

^  J.  H.  Robinson,  The  New  History,  p.  236. 
7]  7 


8  PREFACE  [8 

been  assisted  by  Dr.  Austin  B.  Keep,  of  the  College  of 
the  City  of  New  York;  Dr.  A.  Z.  Reed,  and  Mr.  W.  C. 
Gerrish.  Acknowledgments  are  due  also  to  several 
members  of  the  Columbia  University  Faculty :  to  Pro- 
fessor William  M.  Sloane,  under  whose  general  supervision 
this  thesis  has  been  written  ;  to  Professor  James  T.  Shot- 
well,  for  keen  criticism  and  suggestion ;  to  Professor 
Carlton  H.  Hayes,  for  the  sacrifice  of  many  hours  in 
proof-reading;  and  in  a  special  sense  to  Professor  James 
H.  Robinson,  whose  point  of  view,  always  fresh  and 
stimulating,  has  been  a  paramount  influence  in  the 
author's  graduate  work. 


CONTENTS 


Introduction 


PAGE 
II 


SECTION  I     RADICALISM  IN  THEORY 


Chapter      I 


Chapter    II 


Chapter  III 


Chapter  IV 


Chapter    V 


Chapter  VI 


Defining  the  Issue 
Representative  champions  of  conservatism  :  Burke, 
Hannah  More,  and  John  Reeves 46 

Pamphlet  Skirmishing 
The  older  radicals  briefly  surveyed  :  Price,  Priest- 
ley, Horn  Tooke  and  Major  Cartv^^right.     Cursory 
treatment  of  scurrilous,  anonymous  and  incidental 
literature 57 

The  Radical  Creed 
The    rights    of    man    and    the  rights    of   woman. 
Wollstonecraft  and  Paine — Mackintosh  and  Ben- 
tham 75 

The  Development  of  the  Radical  Platform 
Godvi'in  on  property ;   Spence  on  land  nationaliza- 
tion ;    Gerrald    on    war ;    Frend    on    the  church ; 
Barlow  on  the  administration  of  the  law ;  Thelwal 
on  injustice.       104 

Radicalism  and  Political  Reform 
Annual    Parliaments   and   universal   suffrage  the 
ultimatum.     Doctrinnaire  theories  of  the  radical 
reformers 131 

Radicalism  and  the  Economic  Crisis 

Monopolies,  luxury,  and  the  new  industrialism  as 
the  cause.  Vagueness  of  the  proposed  remedies. 
The  intimation  of  the  minimum  wage 139 


9] 


lO 


CONTENTS 


[lO 


SECTION  II     RADICALISM  IN  PRACTICE 


Chapter  I  The  Radical  Societies.  Their  General  Aim 
AND  Purpose 
The  quasi-radical  organizations  reviewed.  The 
London  Corresponding  Society  and  its  allies. 
Their  threefold  propaganda:  correspondence,  pub- 
lications and  public  meetings 159 

Chapter    II    The  British  Convention 

Origin,  proceedings  and  dispersion.  Inner  pur- 
pose of  the  convention.  Theory  of  the  govern- 
ment substantiated 182 

Chapter  III    The  Societies  Accused  of  Treason 

The  prevalent  spirit  of  unrest,  and  the  radical 
societies.     The  question  of  treasonable  practice   .    197 

Chapter  IV    The  Suppression  of  Radicalism 

The  prosecution  of  the  individual.  Trials  for 
seditious  words  and  publications.  Organized  rad- 
icalism under  the  ban.  "  The  Two  Acts."  Their 
progress  through  Parliament.  The  passing  of  the 
London  Corresponding  Society 224 

Conclusion 248 

Bibliography 254 


INTRODUCTION 


It  is  an  obvious,  indisputable  and  salient  fact  that  the 
cost  of  living",  toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
increased  with  great  rapidity.  The  rise  in  value  of  wheat 
was  particularly  noticeable,  as  is  demonstrated  by  the 
audit  books  of  Eton  College  and  Prince's  "  Prices  Cur- 
rent." '  From  the  latter  source  we  also  learn  of  a  corre- 
sponding rise  in  value  of  other  food  commodities  of  staple 
use.  Nor  was  this  rise  confined  to  foodstuiTs.  Raw 
wool,  tobacco,  soap,  lumber  and  other  articles  registered 
an  advance ;  and,  though  certain  wares,  such  as  rice, 
cotton  and  tea,  decreased  somewhat  in  value,  the  unusu- 
ally high  average  of  prices  was  thereby  but  little  affected. 

In  addition  to  "  Prices  Current  "  and  the  Eton  tables, 
exact  and  minute  information  upon  the  subject  is  con- 
tained in  Sir  John  Sinclair's  "  Statistical  Account  of  Scot- 
land." This  book,  or  series  of  books,  was  compiled  from 
letters  written  by  the  Scottish  clergy.  In  them  the 
clergymen  described  as  they  saw  fit  the  noteworthy 
features  of  their  own  parishes;  and  it  is  significant  that 
almost  all  took  cognizance  of  their  increased  living  ex- 
penses.     Their   estimate   for  a   period   of   some  twenty 

*  Wheat  advanced  from  43s.  i^d.  in  1780,  to  48s.  in  1785;  to  56s. 
21/26..  in  1790;  to  Sis.  6d.  in  1795;  to  127s.  in  1800.  Beef,  which  in  1787 
cost  per  tierce  (304  lbs.)  76s.,  in  1797  sold  for  iios.  Butter,  valued 
in  1787  at  47s.  per  hundredweight,  brought,  in  1797.  85s.  Sugar,  at 
24s.  per  hundredweight  in  1787,  was  quoted  at  52s.  in  1797.  Tooke, 
History  of  Prices,  Appendix  to  Volumes  I  and  II,  passim. 

II]  II 


12  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [l2 

years  varied  from  thirty  to  fifty  per  cent.'  One  more  in- 
stance will  suffice.  Arthur  Young  tells  us,  in  1801,  that 
he  knew  a  person  then  living  who  formerly  could  have 
bought  a  bushel  of  wheat,  a  bushel  of  malt,  a  pound  of 
butter,  a  pound  of  cheese,  and  a  pennyworth  of  tobacco 
for  five  shillings.  These  same  commodities  cost,  in  1801, 
no  less  than  one  pound,  six  shillings  and  five  pence.' 

There  was  no  relative  advance  in  wages  to  offset  this 
rise  of  prices.  The  buying  power  of  wages  in  1800  has 
been  compared  with  that  of  1790.  In  accordance  with 
Porter's  estimate  the  laborer  could  buy  fifty-three  pints  of 
wheat  with  a  week's  wages  in  1800.  In  1790  he  could 
have  bought  eighty-two  pints.  The  skilled  artisan,  who 
could  buy  only  eighty-three  pints  of  wheat  in  1800  could 
in  1790  have  procured  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine. ^  A 
slight  increase  did  take  place  during  the  last  decade  of 
the  century.  Especially  was  this  true  in  1795,  1796  and 
1800,  but  it  was  piteously  inadequate,  as  the  records  of 
the  journeymen  tailors  of  London  and  of  the  Greenwich 
hospital  prove."* 

Poverty,   suffering   and   discontent   accompanied   this 

^Sinclair,  Statistical  Account,  passim. 

2  Young,  Annals  of  Agriculture  and  other  Useful  Arts,  xxxvii,  265. 

'  Porter,  State  of  the  Nation,  p.  478. 

4  "  The  wages  of  the  tailors  had  been,  from  1775  to  1795,  one  pound, 
one  shilling  and  nine  pence  per  week,  which,  at  the  price  of  7%d.  per 
quartern  loaf  would  purchase  thirty-six  loaves,  while  the  utmost  ad- 
vance in  wages  which,  in  1795,  was  to  twenty- five  shillings,  and  in 
1810  twenty-seven  shillings,  would  purchase  in  the  latter  year  only 
eighteen  and  one-half  loaves."  The  increase  at  the  hospital  was: 
Carpenters  from  2/7  per  day  to  3/2.  Bricklayers  from  2/4  per  day  to 
3/.  Masons  from  3/  per  day  to  3/3,  Plumbers  from  3/  per  day  to 
3/3.  Tooke,  History  of  Prices,  i,  227.  J.  E.  and  Barbara  Hammond, 
The  Village  Laborer,  p.  iii,  give  a  careful  resume  from  many  con- 
temporary sources  of  the  slight  increase  in  wages  during  the  last 
quarter  of  the  century. 


y 


13] 


INTRODUCTION 


13 


rise  of  prices.  To  the  wage  earner  it  meant  sharp  dis- 
tress; to  the  middle  class  Englishmen  on  a  fixed  income 
it  was  a  heavy  grievance,  especially  since,  as  Malthus 
later  indicated,  the  growing  pauperism  of  the  laborers 
was  reacting  directly  upon  the  middle  class,  owing  to 
the  vicious  poor-law  system  then  in  operation/  Indeed, 
this  rise  in  prices  was  responsible,  more  than  any  other 
factor,  for  the  social  unrest  which  is  the  subject  of  our 
study.  It  is  our  intention  to  approach  that  unrest  later 
from  many  different  perspectives.  For  the  present  let 
us  concede  its  existence,  and  confine  our  attention  to 
the  attitude  of  the  government  toward  the  laboring 
poor. 

The  Tory  government  was  not  greatly  perturbed  by 
high  prices.  To  be  sure  ParHament  in  October,  1795, 
was  urged  to  take  some  action  by  the  speech  from  the 
throne,  and  a  brisk  word  skirmish  ensued,  but  judged  by 
its  results,  the  debate  was  both  trifling  and  desultory. 
High  prices  did  not  ruffle  the  equanimity  of  the  lords. 
On  the  day  Parliament  opened,  somewhat  over  a  hun- 


^  Malthus,  Essay  on  Population  (1798),  pp.  71  et  seq.  This  idea  is 
further  treated  by  Malthus  in  1800,  vide.  Investigation  of  the  High 
Price  of  Living.     Specific  figures  are  given  by  Tooke,  op.  cit.,  i,  228: 


I 

77Z- 

1793- 

I 

797. 

£■ 

s. 

d. 

£.    s. 

d. 

£. 

s. 

d. 

Coomb  of  mart  ... 

— 

12 

— 

X       3 

— 

I 

3 

— 

A  caldron  of  coals 

I 

II 

6 

2    — 

6 

2 

6 

— 

A  coomb  of  oats    . 

.  — 

5 

— 

—    13 

— 

— 

16 

— 

A  load  of  hay  .  .    . 

2 

2 

— 

4    10 

— 

5 

5 

— 

Meat 

.  — 

— 

4 

—    _ 

5 

— 

— 

7 

Butter 

— 

— 

6 

—     — 

II 

— 

— 

II 

Sugar 

— 

— 

8 

—      I 

— 

— 

I 

3 

Soap 

— 

— 

6 

—    — 

8 

— 

— 

— 

Light 

3 

10 

6 

7     10 

8 

12 

12 

9>^ 

Poor  rates  per  quart 

er  . 

•  — 

I 

— 

—      2 

6 

— 

3 

9'/* 

16 


1 4  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [14 

dred  peers  spiritual  and  temporal  were  present.  The 
next  day  there  were  fourteen,  and  throughout  this 
session  and  the  next  the  attendance  averaged  perhaps 
ten,'  The  lords  did,  however,  pass  a  resolution  binding 
themselves  not  to  consume  more  than  two-thirds  of 
their  accustomed  quantity  of  flour. ^  Conscious  then  of 
duty  well  performed,  they  rested  from  their  labors. 

In  the  House  of  Commons  though  no  one  knew  why 
prices  had  risen,  there  were  many  ready  with  the  reason. 
The  Tories  censured  nature,  and  forsooth  with  perfect 
propriety,  for  had  not  crops  been  unusually  poor?^  Fox, 
the  Whig  leader,  denounced  the  war,'*  and  others  held 
the  mechanism  of  distribution  responsible,  for  the  gov- 
ernment refrained  from  regulating  the  corn  market. 
Indeed,  one  Lechmere  stated  that  his  study  of  the  sub- 

'  Journal  of  the  House  of  Lords  for  1795.  The  lowest  number  at 
ally  meeting  was  three.  At  the  time  of  the  attack  on  the  king  nearly  a 
full  house  assembled. 

'  On  debating  this  resolution,  some  animation  was  displayed.  The 
Earl  of  Lauderdale  protested  that  "  such  a  palpable  catch  at  popu- 
larity should  be  disclaimed.  He  would  not  have  his  name  trumpeted 
forth  in  the  public  ear  while  he  was  conscious  that  he  afiforded  no  real 
mitigation  to  the  pressure  of  public  calamity."  Parliamentary  Register, 
xlv,  180. 

*  There  were  no  good  crops  in  England  between  1791  and  1796. 
The  year  1792  was  stated  in  the  annals  of  agriculture  to  have  been 
remarkable  for  an  extremely  wet  summer,  by  which  the  crop  of  wheat 
was  much  injured  everywhere.  In  1793  the  crop  was  moderate.  The 
years  1794- 1795  were  marked  by  very  bad  harvests.  The  winter  of 
1794-1795  was  unusually  severe,  the  spring  following  unusually  late, 
and  the  following  harvest  being  both  late  and  poor.  Similar  conditions 
existed  in  North  America  and  in  Northern  Europe.  Tooke,  op.  cit.,  i, 
179. 

*  Parliamentary  Register,  xliii,  71.  Tooke,  History  of  Prices,  p.  115. 
Tookt,  by  an  ingenious  comparison  of  the  Eton  Tables,  demonstrated 
that  from  1688  to  1792  prices  in  England  were  as  higli  in  times  of 
peace  as  in  times  of  war.     Op.  cit.,  p.  81. 


I-]  INTRODUCTION  1 3 

ject  had  brought  him  to  conclude  that  monopoly  was  the 
root  of  the  evil.  He  knew  of  two  kinds  of  monopolies. 
First,  there  was  a  monopoly  of  farms.  All  the  govern- 
ment could  do  in  this  instance  was  to  prevent  the  evil 
from  growing  worse.  Second,  there  was  a  monopoly  in 
corn.  The  jobbers  were  responsible  for  this,  and  he 
would  bring  the  career  of  these  gentlemen  to  a  close. 
Lechmere  proposed  that  a  number  of  state  granaries  be 
erected,  and  that  existing  distinctions  between  wholesale 
and  retail  prices  be  abolished. ' 

These  opinions  heard  in  Parliament  were  reflected  and 
amplified  in  committee  reports.*  To  meet  the  emergency 
there  were  three  recommendations  :  a  system  of  bounties ; 
a  reduced  consumption  of  wheat  (diet  reform);  and 
regulation  of  the  Corn  Exchange  by  the  government. 
The  bounty  on  the  importation  of  wheat  was  to  be  de- 
termined by  a  scale  graduated  in  accordance  with  the 
current  prices  in  England.  This  bounty  was  to  be  given 
to  both  American  and  European  wheat,  but  at  a  higher 
rate  to  the  latter,  because  ships  for  the  Mediterranean 
sailed  in  ballast  and  were  heavily  insured.^  On  the 
other  hand  the  consumption  of  grain  was  to  be  lessened. 
His  Majesty  was  requested  to  issue  a  proclamation  to 
this  effect,  which  should  be  circulated  by  the  clergy  and 
magistrates  of  the  realm;  and  yet  more  definite  than  the 
general  advice  of  economy  were  proposed  substitutes  for 
wheat.     Rice  and  potatoes  were  especially  favored.     The 

'  ParUanientary  Register,  xliii,  70. 

*  The  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  high  price  of  corn 
made  three  reports  in  1795,  and  two  in  1796.  Another  committee  on 
the  high  price  of  provisions,  made  six  reports  in  1800.  A  third  com- 
mittee, appointed  to  report  on  the  assize  of  bread,  made  two  reports 
in  the  same  year. 

'  First  report  of  the  committee  on  the  high  price  of  corn,  Nov,  24, 
1793-     Reports  of  Committees,  ix,  45. 


1 6  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [i6 

director  of  a  London  foundling  asylum  testified  that  since 
1795  he  had  exclusively  used  rice  for  the  dinner  of  his 
charges,  in  place  of  a  suet  flour  pudding.  Thereby  was 
the  treasury  of  the  foundling  asylum  greatly  benefited 
and  no  difference  in  the  health  of  the  children  was  noted, 
save  possibly  in  the  case  of  a  few,  who  were  given 
wheaten  bread  by  special  dispensation.'  A  Rev.  Mr. 
Smith,  from  Wendover,  Bucks,  in  1795  changed  his 
method  of  bread  making.  "  In  the  course  of  that  year," 
he  said,  "  I  made  many  experiments  in  the  mixture  of 
potatoes,  barley  and  oats,  together  with  wheaten  fiour ; 
which  articles,  though  they  are  moderate  in  price,  did 
not  answer  as  cheap  substitutes."  Mr.  Smith  discovered 
that  by  adding  two  pounds  of  rice  to  eleven  pounds  of 
flour  he  could  obtain  a  satisfactory  loaf  of  bread  weigh- 
ing eighteen  pounds.^ 

These  efforts  were  virtually  useless.  The  diet  of  the 
laborer  was  confined  largely  to  bread.  He  objected 
vigorously  to  substitutes  of  an  inferior  nutritive  quality.' 
The  attempt  to  introduce  oatmeal  in  the  south  of  Eng- 
land met  with  signal  failure.  This  was  inevitable.  The 
cooking  of  oats  was  a  slow  process  and  firewood  was  ex- 
pensive. Furthermore,  oatmeal  without  milk  was  re- 
garded as  unpalatable,  and  milk  toward  the  end  of  the 
century  was  a  luxury  to  the  poor. 

Some  well-meaning  philanthropists  were  pained  by  the 

1  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  High  Price  of  Provisions,  ix,  93. 

*  Such  substitutes  of  cheaper  foodstuffs  for  flour  were  frequently 
used,  vide  numerous  letters  in  the  Annals.  A  popular  combination 
seems  to  have  been  one-fourth  ground  potato  to  three-quarters  flour. 
Twelve  pounds  of  ground  potato  baked  with  twenty  pounds  of  flour 
made  forty-two  pounds  of  bread.  Young,  Annals,  xxvii,  57.  In  some 
localities  the  idea  of  mixing  wheat  flour  with  cheaper  substitutes  was 
lot  known.     Young,  Annals,  xxiv,  45,  62. 

"  Young,  Annals,  xxiv,  131. 


X7]  INTRODUCTION  ly 

laborers'  refusal  to  use  cheaper  forms  of  bread.  Indeed, 
much  to  the  distress  of  the  donor,  free  tickets  for  a 
coarsened  bread  supply  were  refused  in  one  locality,'  and 
this  despite  the  proof  that  coarser  food  would  do  nicely. 
Said  one  writer :  "  Suppose  the  peasant's  family  to  be 
well  supplied  with  barley,  oats,  peas,  beans  and  potatoes. 
Will  it  be  said  either  that  his  necessities  require  so  large 
a  supply  of  wheat  as  they  otherwise  would,  or  that  his 
discontents  would  not  be  allayed  by  his  acquiescence 
purchased  by  other  compensatory  comforts?  The  acid- 
ity of  the  barley-loaf  would  be  sheathed  by  having  the 
indigestable  lumpiness  of  it  softened  by  the  mild  bever- 
age that  flows  from  the  same  grain,  and  dried  in  the  kiln 
and  decocted  in  the  furnace.  The  water  pot  herb  would 
become  hearty  and  nutritious ;  the  oat  cake  be  rendered 
unctuous  and  savory  by  the  oily  fatness  of  the  barley 
corn  after  it  had  been  animalized  in  the  stye,  and  smoke- 
dried  in  the  chimney.  These  various  combinations  of 
the  four,  corrected  in  the  stomach  by  its  own  acid, 
the  indigestable  dissolved  by  its  attendant  menstruum, 
and  more  palatable  to  the  taste,  may  perhaps  be  con- 
vertible by  the  concoctive  powers  into  a  wholesomer  and 
stronger  nutriment  than  the  whitest  wheaten  bread." "" 

Two  propositions  were  brought  forward  for  the  regu- 
lation of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  fiour.  In  the  first 
place,  the  substitution  of  either  standard  or  household 
flour  for  pure  wheat  flour  was  advocated.  (Household 
flour  was  much  coarser  than  wheaten  flour,  and  standard 
flour  was  even  more  so.)  Testimony  regarding  this 
proposal   was    detailed.     Physicians    summoned    as    wit- 

1  J.  E.  and  Barbara  Hammond,  Village  Laborer,  1760-1832,  p.  124. 

*  Henry  Gabell,  On  the  Expediency  of  Offering  and  Amending  the 
Regulation  Recommended  by  Parliament  for  Reducing  the  High  Price 
of  Provisions,  1796. 


l8  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [i8 

nesses  could  not  agree  on  the  physical  effect  of  a  coarser 
quality  of  flour.  Bakers,  on  the  other  hand,  were  unan- 
imously of  opinion  that  it  would  not  be  acceptable  to 
customers.  When  confronted  with  this  question,  "  Do 
you  concede  that,  if  the  legislature  was  to  order  any 
particular  sort  of  flour  to  be  ground,  and  that  the  bread 
to  be  made  of  it  should  be  of  coarser  sort  from  that 
which  is  at  present  used,  it  would  be  acceptable  to  your 
customers?"  the  bakers  all  answered  in  the  negative.' 
A  number  of  millers  and  corn  factors  declared  that  even 
if  the  coarser  bread  was  baked,  no  more  nourishment 
could  be  obtained  from  a  given  quantity  of  wheat.  Only 
one  watness  held  a  contrary  opinion.  Alderman  Watson, 
an  army  contractor,  spoke  in  defence  of  "  camp  bread," 
which,  though  admittedly  of  coarser  flour,  he  declared 
highly  desirable.^  The  testimony  of  Arthur  Young  ended 
the  evidence  before  the  committee.  He  acknowledged 
that  brown  bread  would  be  a  very  slight  remedy,  and 
probably  not  as  nourishing  for  laborers  as  wheaten 
loaves.  In  fact,  Young  saw  no  escape  from  the  situa- 
tion, save  in  the  substitution  of  soups  for  bread. ^ 

Finally  the  government  sought  in  yet  one  other  way 
to  improve  the  situation.  Criticism  of  those  old-time 
public  enemies,  the  corn-engrosser  and  forestaller,  was 
rife,  and  in  consequence  a  somewhat  strict  inquiry  was 
set  on  foot  into  the  working  of  the  Corn  Exchange.  In 
London  it  was  private  property,  owned  by  some  eighty 
shareholders.  These  persons  rented  selling-stands  to 
privileged  dealers,  who  controlled   the   London  market. 

1  First  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Assise  of  Bread,  Reports  of 
Committees,  ix,  69,  70. 

2  Ibid.,  ix,  7z. 

*  In  this  opinion  Arthur  Young  was  sustained  by  a  clerical  witness. 
Ibid.,  ix,  76. 


19]  INTRODUCTION  ip 

It  was  true  that  any  man  might,  if  he  could,  or  would, 
buy  in  the  Exchange  from  those  who  owned  no  stands. 
But  this  was  not  feasible,  for,  among  other  practices  and 
manipulations,  the  dealers  contrived  to  keep  the  opening 
of  the  Exchange  as  to  day  and  hour  a  secret.'  To  mod- 
ernize the  methods  of  the  Exchange  it  was  recom- 
mended: (i)  that  every  seller  be  licensed;  (2)  that 
registration  be  kept  of  every  sale;  (3)  that  inspectors 
regularly  be  present ;  (4)  that  every  grower  of  wheat 
state,  under  compulsion,  the  amount  he  was  ready  to 
sell ;  (5)  that  a  new  market  be  opened  under  the  man- 
agement of  the  Board  of  Aldermen. 

Parliamentary  committees,  by  all  of  these  measures — 
by  the  giving  of  bounties,  by  economy  in  consumption, 
by  reform  in  diet,  by  the  coarsening  of  the  wheaten  loaf, 
and,  finally,  by  the  regulation  of  the  Corn  Exchange, 
suggested  governmental  assistance.  More  was  sug- 
gested, however,  than  was  accomplished.  The  author- 
ities did,  in  a  special  emergency,  secure  grain  from  the 
Baltic,  and  a  tax  was  imposed  on  those  who  wore  hair 
powder.     Little  else  was  done. 

The  rise  in  prices  was  but  the  outward  and  visible  sign 
of  a  new  dispensation,  which  thoroughly  and  rapidly 
transformed  the  economic  and  industrial  life  of  Great 
Britain.  Its  advent  was  marked  by  changes  in  the  forms, 
standards  and  character  of  the  entire  social  fabric. 
Methods  in  both  agriculture  and  manufacturing  were 
revolutionized.  The  new  agriculture  was  characterized 
by  great  improvements  in  technique ;  a  sudden  rise  in 
rental  value ;  a  consolidation  of  the  smaller  farms  of  the 

*  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  High  Cost  of  Provisions,  June 
24,  1801.     Reports  of  Committees,  ix,  146  et  seq. 


20  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [20 

country  into  large  estates ;  and  a  rapid  enclosure  of  the 
public  domain. 

Improvements  in  the  technique  of  agriculture  were 
varied  in  character :  some  had  to  do  with  a  more  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  nature  and  composition  of  soils, 
others  involved  experimentation  in  the  various  uses  to 
which  manure  might  be  applied,  and  an  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  several  qualities  and  adaptations  of  different 
kinds  of  fertilizers/  "  Artificial  grasses  "  were  also  much 
improved ;  and  the  use  of  root  crops,  such  as  turnips,  in 
place  of  fallow,  made  great  headway,  for  the  farmer 
quickly  appreciated  the  additional  quantity  of  winter 
feed  which  these  root  crops  afforded.  Enthusiastic  in- 
quiries were  made  into  the  problem  of  land  drainage ;  ^ 
and  the  irrigation  of  dry  districts  was  carefully  studied. 
Various  ways  and  means  were  found  for  the  enrichment 
of  the  soil,  and  encouraged  by  all  classes  of  society. 
King  George  himself  wrote  on  agricultural  topics  under 
the  pseudonym  "  Mr.  Robinson,"  while  in  the  northern 
kingdom  the  Duke  of  Buccleugh  and  "  Potato  "  Wilkie 
worked  shoulder  to  shoulder  for  the  same  purpose. 

An  equal  advance  v/as  registered  in  breeding  methods. 
By  1785  Bakewell  had  completed  his  great  discoveries  in 
sheep  and  cattle  breeding,  and  the  impetus  thus  received 
made  itself  felt  in  effectively  conducted  experiments 
throughout  the  remainder  of  the  century. ^ 

1  Young,  Annals,  xxiii,  yy;  xxvi,  116.  Sinclair,  Statistical  Account  of 
Scotland,  lygs-iygd,  vi,  439.    Ibid.,  p.  64. 

^  Elkington  was  the  great  specialist  in  work  of  this  kind.  A  seven- 
teen-page report  of  his  methods  is  to  be  found  in  the  Annals  of  Agri- 
culture for  the  year  1797,  xxviii,  yj. 

3  Young,  Annals,  xxi,  289;  xxii,  19;  ibid.,  p.  ^^y;  xxviii,  420;  ibid., 
p.  241.  The  last-mentioned  reference  contains  a  list  of  sixty-four  ques- 
tions relative  to  breeding. 


21  ]  INTRODUCTION  21 

Agricultural  implements  were  likewise  much  bettered, 
It  is  true  that  in  the  more  remote  sections  of  the  island 
crude  implements  of  earlier  date  were  only  slowly  dis- 
placed. In  the  Highlands  it  was  still  customary,  in  cul- 
tivating, to  tie  the  harrow  to  the  horse's  tail.  This  was 
said  to  serve  the  double  purpose  of  saving  the  harness, 
and  breaking  in  the  horse.'  Also  other  localities  con- 
tinued to  use  a  primitive  spade,  popularly  known  as  a 
cascroim.  In  Edderaschylis  this  was  simply  "  a  crooked 
piece  of  wood,  the  lower  end  somewhat  thick,  about  two 
feet  and  a  half  in  length,  pretty  straight,  and  armed  at 
the  end  with  iron,  made  thin  and  square,  to  cut  the 
earth."'  This  implement  long  survived.  So  also  did 
the  Scottish  plow,  with  its  clumsy  employment  of  four 
horses  in  place  of  two.  But  little  by  little  methods  were 
changing.  In  advanced  districts  threshing  machines 
became  common  by  1794,^  while  in  England  contempo- 
raneous records  are  filled  to  overflowing  with  the  news 
of  agricultural  inventions.  Threshing  and  winnowing 
machines,  improved  and  reimproved,  had  already  been 
introduced.''  Machines  for  all  kinds  of  purposes  were 
proposed  and  patented.  There  were  machines  for  shoe- 
ing oxen,s  machines  for  pulling  up  tree  stumps,^  and 
queer  cumbrous  machines  for  draining  swamps,  equipped 
with  what  their  inventors  termed  "inclined  float-board 
wheels."^     Machinery  suitable  for  all    sorts  and   condi- 

'  Sinclair,  Statistical  Account,  viii,  48.  "  Ibid.,  vi,  288. 

3  Ibid.,  vi,  504. 

*  Young,  Annals,  xviii,  362. 

^  Ibid.,  xxvi,  500. 

®  Ibid.,  xviii,  362. 

''  Ibid.,  xxvi,  387.  Illustrations  of  these  new  machines  are  to  be 
found  here  and  there  in  Young's  Annals,  also  in  the  Encyclopedia 
Britannica.  3d  Edition,  1797. 


22  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [22 

tions  of  climate,  usage  and  soil  was  planned,  patented 
and  constructed. 

Although  new  agricultural  methods  were  widely  dis- 
cussed by  contemporaneous  writers,  no  one  of  them  caused 
as  much  stir  as  did  the  proposed  utilization  of  the  great 
areas  of  waste  and  unenclosed  land.  '  Certain  tracts  had, 
in  earlier  times  of  scientific  ignorance,  been  considered 
useless.  Other  sections,  owing  to  the  expense  of  legal 
possession,  were,  wholly  or  in  part,  unused,  while  yet 
others  remained  open  for  public  pasture.  Arthur  Young 
believed  that  all  of  this  land,  wherever  possible,  should 
be  enclosed  and  made  productive  as  the  property  of 
private  owners.  Even  the  common  pasture  land,  he 
argued,  should  be  taken,  although  he  recognized  that 
such  action  would  inflict  hardships  on  certain  classes  of 
society,  for,  he  said  in  passing :  "  The  enclosure  of  the 
common  fields  would  be  beneficial  and,  to  a  certain 
extent,  justifiable,  for  the  tenant  paid  rent  for  them  to 
the  lord  of  the  manor,  but  it  would  be  effected  at  great 
loss  to  the  smaller  tenant,  and  when  his  common  or 
pasture  was  enclosed  as  well,  he  would  be  greatly  injured, 
while  the  agricultural  laborer  would  be  permanently 
disabled." 

The  process  of  enclosure,  or  of  converting  this  public 
into  private  land,  had  made  rapid  progress  throughout 
the  eighteenth  century,  but  not  rapid  enough  to  suit  the 
desires  of  agricultural  experts  who,  like  Young,  had  in- 
creased production  more  closely  at  heart  than  equitable 
distribution.  Young  was  so  enthusiastic  that  he  would 
place  all  the  land  of  Great  Britain,  wherever  crops  might 
be  grown,  under  the  plow.  Even  forests  he  regarded 
with  a  hostile  eye ;  for  he  said  that  there  was  in  England 
sufBcient  coal  for  heat  during  the  winter,  and  that  for 
other  purposes  timber  could  be  more  profitably  imported 


23]  INTRODUCTION  23 

from  abroad.  Every  bit  of  England's  soil,  on  the  con- 
trary, should  be  used  for  her  food  supply.  He  even  de- 
clared that  to  plant  land  with  timber  was  retrogressive.' 

Upper-class  England  supported  Young,  and  Parlia- 
ment, ready  to  assist,  ordered  investigation.  Committees 
of  Parliament  examined  the  origin,  extent  and  value  of 
the  waste  land  of  Great  Britain,  both  the  benefits  that 
could  be  derived  from  the  use  of  such  lands,  and  the  diffi- 
culties existent  in  the  v/ay  of  its  immediate  absorption  by 
private  capital.' 

In  extent  the  waste  land  in  Great  Britain  was  astonish- 
ingly large.  Out  of  a  total  acreage  of  73,285,622  acres 
there  remained  unenclosed  in  1795,  about  23,107,000, 
which  in  pecuniary  value  was  estimated  by  Watson,  the 
public-spirited  bishop  of  Llandaff,  to  equal  an  income  of 
some  twenty  million  pounds  per  annum.  Much  of  this 
land  was  of  good  quality.  One  million  acres  only  were 
incapable  of  planting.  Of  the  remainder  there  were  suit- 
able for  tillage,  3,000,000  acres ;  fit  for  planting,  3,000,- 
000  acres;  suitable  for  upland  pasture,  i, 000,000  acres; 
meadow  and  water  mead,  1,000,000  acres. ^ 

The  committee  were  convinced  that  all  of  this  territory 
should  be  utilized.  In  the  first  place,  they  reported  that 
the  highest  and  most  sterile  land  should  be  left  to 
plantations  ;  "*  for,  in  the  ponderous  phraseology  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  "  at  first  sight  it  may  seem  surpris- 
ing that  the  spot  which  will  not  produce  a  single  blade 
of  corn  will  yet  support  the  stately  pine,  or  spreading 

*  Young,  Annals,  xxiii,  399. 

2  Parliamentary  committees  on  waste  land  and  bills  of  enclosure  pub- 
lished reports  in  1795,  1797  and  1800.  Vide,  Reports  from  Committees, 
1776-1801,  vol.  ix. 

2  Reports  of  Committee  on  Waste  Land,  ix,  206. 

■*  Ibid.,  p.  210. 


24  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [24 

oak;  these  draw  their  nourishment  from  sources  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  smaller  vegetable  productions,  and  their 
leaves  are  also  supposed  to  derive  sustenance  from  the 
air  which  surrounds  them,  or  the  water  which  they  may 
imbibe."  Land  not  so  barren  might  with  profit  be  used 
for  sheep  growing.'  Other  soil  might  be  redeemed  by 
the  use  of  fertilizers  and  underplowing.  Wet  and  boggy 
regions  could  easily  be  drained  and  made  usable  in  the 
course  of  one  summer,  while  dry  and  arid  soil  could  be 
brought  to  an  "astonishing  height  of  produce"  by  sys- 
tematic irrigation. 

Public  land  once  classified,  the  feasibility  of  turning  it 
into  private  property  was  discussed.  Here  one  serious 
obstacle  blocked  the  way :  the  antiquated  system  of  land 
tenure  which,  then  as  well  as  now,  complica'ted  the  title 
to  all  land  held  in  Great  Britain.  Over  most  of  this 
waste  or  unenclosed  territory,  there  were  innumerable 
rights  of  common,  confusing  well-nigh  beyond  belief. 
A  "  right  of  common  "  the  committee  defined  as  "  a  right 
which  a  person  has  in  another  person's  property  without 
any  property  in  the  soil."  Four  different  rights  of  com- 
mon were  recognized  :  the  common  of  pasture,  which 
meant  a  right  to  graze  cattle  in  the  unenclosed  territory; 
the  common  of  turbary,  or  the  right  to  cut  turf;  the 
common  of  estover,  or  the  right  to  cut  wood  ;  and  the 
common  of  piscary,  or  the  right  of  fishing.  These  special 
privileges  were  still  further  involved,  for  they  included 
subsidiary  qualifications,  permissions  and  sub-rights, 
intricate  in  character  and  all  but  infinite  in  extent,  as, 
for  example,  the  common  of  pasture,  which  included  and 
was  made  up  of  common  appendant,  common  appur- 
tenant, common  in  gross  and  common  in  vicinage." 

1  Report  of  Committee  on  Waste  Land,  ix,  207. 

*  Common  appendant,  is  a  right  belonging  to  the  land  and  incident 


25]  INTRODUCTION  25 

This  intermingling  of  hoary  tradition  and  ancient  usage 
brought  forth,  as  might  be  expected,  a  rich  harvest  for 
all  lawyers,  attorneys  and  counsellors  engaged  in  ques- 
tions of  title.  The  procedure  of  enclosure  was  exceed- 
ingly involved.  In  accordance  with  English  law  the 
following  steps  were  necessary :  First,  a  preliminary 
meeting  must  be  called  for  the  purpose  of  advertising 
the  proposed  enclosure.  Second,  after  the  meeting,  a 
petition  to  Parliament  must  be  prepared,  notices  of  said 
petition  being  affixed  to  the  doors  of  churches,  and  in 
other  public  places.  Third,  a  special  bill  must  be  drawn  up 
and  passed  by  Parliament.  To  do  this,  there  must  be  given 
in  evidence  the  written  consent  of  from  three-quarters 
to  four-fifths  of  the  persons  interested.  No  proxies  were 
allowed.  Fourth,  after  the  bill  had  been  safeguarded 
through  Parliament,  incidentally  involving  the  payment 
of  heavy  dues  at  each  step  in  its  progress,  commissioners 
were  appointed.  These  commissioners  were  generally 
three  in  number.  Their  function  corresponded  in' many 
ways  to  that  of  the  modern  receiver.  They  visited  the 
land,  inventoried  it,  surveyed  it,  heard  complaints,  if  any, 
and  then  officially  declared  it  enclosed.'  This  was  the 
technical  method  of  land  enclosure  in  England.  In 
theory,  at  least,  the  rights  of  the  laborer,  the  small  leas- 
ing farmer  and  the  yeoman  were  guaranteed  by  the  law; 
and  in  theory,  at  least,  the  permission  of  three-quarters 
of  the  persons  interested  had  to  be  obtained  before  an 
enclose  bill   could    be   passed.     Practise  did  not   square 

to  the  tenure.  Common  appurtenant  was  a  right  appertaining  to  the 
land,  but  not  incident  to  any  tenure.  Common  in  gross  was  some- 
what similar  to  common  appurtenant,  save  that  it  was  even  further 
apart  from  the  ownership  of  the  land.  Common  in  vicinage  consisted 
in  the  customs  and  privilege  of  allowing  cattle  to  graze  from  their 
own  common  to  an  unenclosed  adjacent  common. 
"^Report  of  Committee  on  Bills  for  Enclosure,  ix,  231. 


26  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [26 

with  theory.  Plans  for  an  enclosure  were  concocted  in 
secret.  The  big  proprietors,  the  solicitors  and  the  vicar 
connived  together.  Bills  were  rushed  hurriedly  through 
Parliament.  Little  or  no  attention  was  paid  to  contrary 
petitions,  if,  indeed,  the  protcstants  had  the  temerity  to 
present  them.' 

These  enclosures  were  the  chief  grievance  of  the  poorer 
agriculturists.  The  expense  was  heavy,  and,  moreover, 
even  if  paid,  the  loss  of  the  fallow  and  stubble  pasture 
was  still  serious,  and  as  for  the  poor  cottager :  before 
enclosure  "  he  was  a  laborer  with  land;  after  enclosure  he 
was  a  laborer  without  land."'  Furze  and  turf  no  longer 
were  free  for  all.  It  was  impossible  now  for  the  cottager 
to  keep  his  cow,^  wdiile  the  old  officialdom  of  the  public 
common  must  seek  employment  elsewhere.  The  hay- 
ward,  the  pound  man,  the  chimney  peepers,  viewers  and 
common  shepherd  were  now  out  of  work.  There  is 
evidence  to  show  that  much  more  comfort  existed  among 
the  poorer  folk  than  early  in  the  century.  Tea  was  more 
generally  used.  In  the  poorer  districts  of  Scotland  it  is 
said  that  tablecloths  and  clocks  had  become  familiar 
objects,''  and  though  here  and  there  customs  quite  primi- 
tive still  survived, 5  some  authors  contend  that  the  lot  of 
the  average  husbandman  toward  the  close  of  the  century 
was  more  comfortable  than  in  the  beginning.  The  evi- 
dence,   however,    is    quite    disputable,    and    though    to 

1  Hammond,  Village  Laborer,  pp.  43  et  scq.  -  Ibid.,  p.  100. 

*  Throughout  the  midland  counties  it  was  noticed  that  the  number 
of  cows  owned  by  the  laborers  became  strikingly  less.  Young,  An- 
nals, xxvi,  242. 

*  Sinclair,  Statistical  Account,  passim. 

^  In  Yorkshire  the  bed  was  turned,  in  some  instances,  into  a  kind 
of  eighteenth  century  fireiess  cooker,  keeping  warm  the  oatmeal  dur- 
ing the  absence  of  the  farmer.  Crutwell,  Tour  of  Great  Britain,  p.  118. 
This  custom  is  said  still  to  survive  in  Minnesota. 


27]  INTRODUCTION  27 

generalize  is  somewhat  dangerous,  it  is  perhaps  not  un- 
fair to  affirm  that  more  comfortable  or  not,  he  was 
disgruntled  and  discontented  with  his  life. 

Of  the  farmers  who  leased  their  lands,  some  were 
prosperous.  This  was  the  case  where  the  land  was  en- 
closed and  new  methods  adopted,  but  in  other  sections 
where  this  was  not  done,  great  discontent  prevailed. 
As  the  returns  from  agricultural  labor  rose  with  greater 
and  greater  rapidity,  the  period  of  leasing  to  which  the 
landlord  would  consent  became  shorter  and  shorter — 
and  the  farmer  lost  those  advantages  which  came  of  the 
high  price  of  his  farm  produce.  Meanwhile  the  yeo- 
manry, the  small  proprietors,  were  also  losing  ground. 
The  lamented  disappearance  of  the  British  yeoman  in  the 
nineteenth  century  had  begun.' 

As  for  the  land-owning  farmers  they,  like  their  breth- 
ren who  leased,  were  in  some  instances  well-to-do.  The 
gentlemen  farmers, — men  of  independent  wealth  and  leis- 
ure,— were  almost  invariably  prosperous.  Indeed,  for  the 
capitalistic  farmer. — the  farming  entrepreneur — whether 
gentleman  farmer  or  wideawake  yeoman,  the  end  of  the 
century  brought  halcyon  days.  Capital  was  the  sitie  qua 
non  of  enclosure.  Ploughs,  harrows,  fences,  and  the 
other  paraphernalia  of  the  new  agriculture  demanded 
capital.  They  who  had  capital  thrived;  others  fell  by  the 
wayside. 

In  Scotland,  agricultural  conditions  were  backward. 
The  new  agriculture  was  there  making  headway,  but  at  a 
slower  pace.     Complaints  were  made  of  the  short  leases," 

'  The  proof  that  this  disappearance  took  place,  for  the  most  part,  in 
the  early  nineteenth  century,  is  demonstrated  by  C.  H.  Taylor,  The 
Decline  of  Land-owning  Farmers  in  England,  passim. 

»  The  short  leases  which  ran  from  seven  to  eight  years  only  con- 
stantly tempted  the  farmer  to  neglect  his  land.  Sinclair's  Statistical 
Account,  viii,  107. 


28  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [28 

and  men  spoke  also  of  a  hard-pressed  laboring  class. 
Nevertheless,  in  Scotland  it  was  not  the  new  capitalist 
agriculture,  but  the  old  feudal  services  that  were  objected 
to.  These  services,  archaic  survivals  of  an  earlier  day,  not 
only  were  annoying  but  also,  in  certain  cases,  were  obstruc- 
ting and  impeding  the  advance  of  agricultural  improve- 
ment. Educated  Scotchmen  thought  them  disgraceful. 
The  Rev.  James  Robertson,  of  Gargunnock,  said  in  1794: 
"  It  would  be  of  great  service  to  the  country  if  all  of  the 
varieties  of  service  usually  demanded  of  the  heritors,  be- 
sides the  proper  rent,  were  relinquished.  Great  incon- 
venience arises  from  the  obligations  to  which  the  peasants 
are  subjected  ;  to  pay  fowls,  to  drive  coals,  peat  and  dung, 
and  in  the  harvest  to  cut  down  the  proprietor's  grain."' 
The  Rev.  Adam  Forman,  of  Carmunnock  spoke  similarly. 
"The  tenants,"  he  said,  "are  still  subjected  to  many  bur- 
dens or  services  which  the  proprietors  of  the  land  re- 
quire, such  as  driving  coal,  working  at  hay  and  other 
pieces  of  labor,  which  ought  to  be  abolished."^  The 
truth  of  these  charges  was  still  further  substantiated  by 
the  Rev.  Adam  MacBean,  of  Delacrossie.  He  tells  us 
that  customs  were  paid  by  most  of  the  tenants  in  kind, 
such  as  eggs,  fowls,  and  other  articles. ^  In  fact,  feudal 
service  survived  in  Scotland,  of  a  very  pronounced  type, 
for  not  only  was  the  working  of  the  heritor's  farm  compul- 
sory, but  we  also  find  here  and  there  the  most  irksome  of 
all  banalities  was  still  enforced.  This  offensive  special 
privilege  consisted  in  the  custom  of  "  thirlage,"  or  the 
obligatory  grinding  of  all  corn  at  the  heritor's  mill.''    In- 

1  Sinclair,  Statistical  Account,  xvii,  109. 

2  Ibid.,  xviii,  163. 

3  Ibid.,  xviii,  117. 
■*  Ibid.,  xviii,  393. 


29]  INTRODUCTION  29 

asmuch  as  every  tenant  must  use  this  mill,  the  efficiency 
of  its  operation  made  little  difference  to  the  heritor,  con- 
sequently we  find  him  unwilling  to  install  new  machinery 
or  to  improve  the  mill  in  any  way.  The  cost  to  the 
farmer,  therefore,  was  high.  In  one  place,  after  deduct- 
ing for  seed  and  horse  corn,  it  amounted  to  the  value  of 
one-eighth  of  the  crop,' 

More  fundamental  in  its  effect  on  British  society  were 
the  changes  wrought  by  the  parallel  revolution  in 
manufacturing,  which,  however,  scarcely  falls  within  the 
scope  of  this  treatise.  The  inventions  of  Watt,  Crom- 
ton,  Arkwright  and  Cartwright,  are  all,  or  should  be, 
narrated  in  every  textbook  of  English  history.  These 
inventions  were  m.ade  in  the  eighteenth  century,  but  the 
social  transformations  which  follow  in  their  wake  are  not 
experienced,  for  the  major  part,  until  after  181 5.  Only 
the  preliminary  results  of  the  Industrial  Revolution  were 
realized  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  cotton  industry  was  the  first  to  respond  to  the 
stimulus  of  the  Industrial  Revolution.  By  the  last 
quarter  of  the  century  little  factories  or  "  twistworks," 
as  they  were  called,  began  to  appear.  They  bore  but 
little  resemblance  to  the  modern  factory.  Power  was 
provided  by  horses,  or  more  frequently  by  running 
water. ^  Although  the  superiority  of  Watt's  engine  was 
conceded  by  the  end  of  the  century,  its  first  use  was  as 
late  as  1785,  and  it  was  not  applied  to  the  spinning  of 
fine  yarn  till  1793.^ 

The  woolen  industry  was  somewhat  belated  in  its  de- 
velopment.    Until  the  time  of  Edward  Cartwright  wool 

1  Mathieson,  The  Azcakening  of  Scotland,  i,  286. 

2  Chapman,  The  Lancashire  Cotton  Industry,  p.  56. 

3  Ure,  Cotton  Manufactory,  i,  290. 


30  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [30 

had  been  combed  by  hand.  Between  1790  and  1792 
Cartwright's  second  great  invention  was  brought  into 
use/  and  from  this  time  on  the  woolen  industry  made 
rapid  strides,  at  a  rate  comparable  with  the  manufacture 
of  cotton. 

The  improvements  in  weaving  lagged  behind  those  in 
spinning.  The  power  loom  was  applied,  it  is  true,  to 
commercial  use  in  1787,  but  it  was  not  successful  until 
many  years  later.  By  181 3  there  were  only  some  2400 
power  looms  in  use,  and  in  1820  only  14,000.  At  the 
later  date  upwards  of  240,000  hand  looms  were  reported, 
and  the  number  even  then  was  said  to  be  increasing. 
Indeed,  "it  appears  beyond  question,"  one  author  tells 
us,  "that  the  competition  of  the  power  loom  was  not 
very  serious  prior  to  1812,  at  the  earliest,  and  in  many 
places  not  till  considerably  later.'"'  The  early  power 
looms  were  not  very  reliable.  Cartwright  lost  most  of 
his  money  in  trying  to  make  them  pay,  and,  though  his 
invention  was  improved,  reimproved  and  finally  supple- 
mented by  Bell  and  Miller  in  1794  and  in  1798,  yet  in  the 
later  year  a  Glasgow  factory,  with  all  of  these  improve- 
ments, proved  to  be  a  failure. ^  Not  till  the  four  patents 
of  RadclifY  and  the  invention  of  the  "dandy"  does  the 
power  loom  appear  to  have  been  firmly  established,  and 
even  as  late  as  1819  its  use  was  regarded  as  proble- 
matical.'* 

Greater  progress  was  made  in  the  metal  industries. 
A  traveler  in  1788  states  that  water  and  fire  engines  kept 
the  tin  mines  constantly  dry  and  that  without  Bolton's 

1  Burnley,  History  of  Wool  and  Woolcombing,  pp.  105  et  seq. 
'  For   a  description  of  machinery   for  the  manufacture  of  woolens, 
see  Young,  Annals,  xxvii,  311. 
3  Baines,  The  Cotton  Manufacture,  p.  231. 
*  Chapman,  The  Lancashire  Cotton  Industry,  p.  31. 


31  ]  INTRODUCTION  3 1 

invention  they  could  not  be  worked  in  the  winter  at  all,' 
Nevertheless,  the  steel  industry  at  this  time  was  clearly 
in  a  transitional  stage,  for  while  England's  superiority 
in  that  trade  was  still  attributed  to  her  w-ood  supply,  and 
the  charcoal  which  it  made  possible,  Shropshire  coal  was 
used  with  success  in  smelting  iron.^  The  first  practical 
application  of  the  steam  engine  to  the  blasting  furnace 
had  already  been  made,  and  new  inventions  in  rolling 
and  puddling  iron  were  speedily  increasing  the  total  steel 
production  of  the  nation. ^  Coal  mining  had  just  become 
an  important  industry.  Steam  pumps  were  in  use  early 
in  the  century,  but  if  any  one  year  be  taken  to  mark  the 
advance  of  the  British  coal  trade,  it  were  fairer  to  take 
1794,  for  in  that  year  Watt's  patent  for  the  application 
of  the  crank  to  the  steam  engine  expired,  and  coal  could 
now  be  hoisted  from  the  mines  in  an  inexpensive  manner 
by  means  of  the  steam  engine.'*  Toward  the  close  of  the 
century,  indeed,  the  English  coal  trade  began  to  loom 
up  as  an  important  factor,  and  we  read  of  a  coal  trust 
beyond  the  embryonic  stage. ^  Nevertheless  the  coal 
trade  compared  to  that  in  the  early  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  was  far  from  remarkable.^ 

England  is  experiencing  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  a  foretaste  of  the  industrial  revolution.     Grow- 

1  Shaw,  Tour  of  the  West  of  England,  p.  380. 
-  Ibid.,  p.  209. 

2  Scrivenor,  History  of  the  Iron  Trade,  pp.  no  et  seq. 
*  Galloway,  History  of  the  Coal  Industry,  p.  115. 

5  Levy,  Monopoly  and  Competition,  pp.  106  et  seq. 

^  In  London  the  total  amount  of  coal  imported  in  1750  was  260,600 
tons.  In  1800  it  was  410,300,  an  increase  of  sixty  per  cent.  Large 
indeed,  but  compared  with  an  increase  of  231  per  cent  during  the  next 
fifty  years,  followed  by  one  of  404  per  cent  during  the  next  fifteen, 
its  importance  is  diminished.    Jevons,  The  Coal  Question,  p.  232. 


32  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [32 

ing  manufactories,  expanding  trade  and  a  far-reaching 
commerce  are  bringing  to  England  wealth  hitherto  but 
dreamed  of.  The  golden  days  of  the  entrepreneur  are 
beginning.  Many  indications  abound  of  this  new  wealth 
which  is  to  line  the  pockets  of  the  chosen  few.  Car- 
riages, silks,  muslins,  plate  glass,  the  theatre, — a  hundred 
traces  there  are  of  machinery's  magic  wand.'  Now  has 
come  the  day  of  the  large  manufacturing  cities,  with 
their  pressing  problems  of  sanitation,  water  supply, 
police  protection  and  the  housing  of  the  poor.''  The 
employment  of  women  and  children  in  factory  labor  to 
the  great  detriment  of  their  health,  already  has  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  thoughtful  observer. ^  The  great 
shifting  of  the  center  of  population  from  the  south  and 
east  of  England  to  the  north  and  west  is  in  full  head- 
way.■♦  And  more  significant  still  to  the  social  historian, 
the  wage-dependent  laborer  is  becoming  more  per- 
manently a  fixture  in  England  than  ever  before ;  for  his 
right  to  work  is  now  more  frequently  subjected  to  the 
ups  and  downs  of  trade  and  commerce,  interrupted  by 
the  chance  invention  of  a  new  machine,  blocked  and 
thwarted  by  circumstances  over  which  he  has  no  control. 
This  was  not  always  the  case.  The  condition  of  the 
manufacturing  population  varied  greatly.  Nowhere  was 
this  divergence  greater  than  among  the  weavers.  In 
the  case  of  the  muslin  or  cambric  weavers  there  was  no 

^  The  posthumous  letter  of  Edmund  Burke  on  "Peace  with  the  Regi- 
cide Directory  of  France,"  sounds  a  paean  of  praise  for  this  material 
comfort. 

^  Hutton,  History  of  Birmingham,  p.  72.  Baines,  History  of  Liver- 
pool, passim. 

'  For  the  conclusions  of  a  physician  on  this  subject,  as  early  as 
1784,  see  Cunningham,  Growth  of  English  Trade  and  Industry,  p. 
628. 

■*  Dechesne,  L'industrie  dc  la  laine  en  Angleterre,  pp.  107  et  seq. 


33]  INTRODUCTION  33 

machinery  to  supplant  or  cheapen  their  labor,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  highly  stimulated  market  existed  for  their 
wares.  Consequently,  we  find,  if  one  authority  is  to  be 
trusted,  that  the  trade  was  considered  "  the  trade  of  a 
gentleman.  The  operatives  brought  home  their  work 
in  top  boots  and  ruffled  shirts.  They  had  a  cane  and 
took  a  coach,  in  some  instances."  ''Every  house  was 
well  furnished  with  a  clock  of  elegant  mahogany  or  fancy 
case,  and  a  tea  service  there  was  of  Staffordshire  ware 
with  silver  or  plated  sugar  tongs  and  spoons."' 

Quite  the  reverse,  however,  was  the  condition  of  those 
artizans  who  wove  inferior  cloth.  They  had  already,  by 
1793,  begun  to  feel  sharply  the  competition  of  the  power 
looms.  By  that  year  it  was  said  of  the  fustian  weaver, 
or  he  who  dealt  in  coarser  cloth,  that  it  was  nearly  im- 
possible for  the  weaver  to  earn  the  necessaries  of  life, 
and  a  great  number  of  families  out  of  work  were  said  to 
have  been  in  a  most  wretched  position.  The  competi- 
tion of  the  hand  weaver  with  machinery,  which  was  to 
v/ork  such  direful  results  in  the  nineteenth  century  had, 
indeed,  begun.  The  effect  of  the  revolution  in  industry 
of  which  this  invention  was  but  a  phase,  may  be  seen  in 
the  following  letter  from  a  physician  : 

"  To  the  Rev.  Mr.  T.' 

Dear  Sir:  You  desired  me  to  g^ive  you  my  opinion  of  the 
present  state  of  want  and  distress  among:  the  weavers  in  Spit- 
alfields.  Being  physician  to  the  London  Dispensary,  where 
between  2,000  and  3,000  of  them  annually  apply  for  medical 
relief,    I    am  called  frequently  to  visit  their  wretched  habita- 

'  Chapman  quotes  Radclifif  to  this  efifect  in  his  Cotton  Industry. 
Op.  cit.,  p.  38. 

*  This  letter  was  read  from  the  Morning  Chronicle  at  the  trial  of 
Maurice  Margarot  for  sedition  in  Edinburgh,  in  1794.  State  Trials, 
xxiii,  716. 


34  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [34 

tions,  there  the  first  thing  that  commonly  presents  itself  to 
view,  is  an  empty  loom,  and  a  starving:  family.  Some  have 
had  only  half  their  usual  work  for  more  than  twelve  months 
past ;  and  many  no  work  at  all,  for  the  last  six  months. 
Sometimes  I  find  one  or  two  children  sick,  and  the  wretched 
parents  looking'  upon  them  with  all  the  distress  which  parental 
afifection,  and  the  utmost  degree  of  poverty,  can  impress  on 
the  mind.  At  other  times  I  find  the  husband  and  wife,  and 
not  infrequently  both,  sick  in  the  same  bed,  and  several  help- 
less and  half  starved  children  looking  up  to  them  for  bread. 
Here  anxiety  and  poverty  increase  the  disease  if  they  did  not 
produce  it,  which  however  is  often  the  case.  It  is  impossible 
for  words  to  give  a  perfect  idea  of  the  distress  which  prevails 
amongst  this  useful  class  of  the  people.  If  any  doubt  the 
truth  of  this  representation,  all  I  can  say  is,  come  and  see. 
Were  they  to  accompany  me  in  my  daily  visitations  for  a 
short  time,  they  would  be  fully  convinced,  that  this  is  a  very 
imperfect  outline  of  the  general  misery  amongst  this  part  of 
the  labouring  poor,  who  would  gladly  work,  if  they  could  be 
employed  ;  and  therefore,  the  more  deserving  of  help.  I  am 
persuaded,  sir,  that  you  need  only  to  be  acquainted  with  real 
distress,  to  interest  yourself  in  the  means  of  relieving  it  in  the 
present  instance.  Both  you,  sir,  and  those  who  second  your 
laudable  endeavours  and  benevolent  purposes,  will  be  doing 
a  great  work. — I  am,  dear  sir,  your  sincere  friend, 

John  Whitehead. 

Old  Bedlam, 

Dec.  17,  I793-" 

The  new  agriculture  and  the  new  industry  not  only 
owed  their  success,  but  even  their  origin,  to  capitalism  : 
a  capitalism  that  populated  deserts  ;  ruined  ancient  cities  ; 
turned  farmers  into  mill  operatives ;  and  held  at  its  behest 
and  bidding  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain.  The  oper- 
ations of  this  capitalism,  however,  took  place  in  a  frame- 
work of  society  which,  in  itself,  demanded  reform  on 
every  side. 


35]  INTRODUCTION  35 

The  fundamental  laws  of  Great  Britain — those  old  stat- 
utes which  organized  and  governed  society — were  sub- 
jected, in  almost  every  instance,  to  as  keen  a  criticism  as 
that  meted  out  to  the  new  capitalism.  Laws  for  defining 
and  punishing  crime — laws  establishing,  defining  and  pro- 
tecting the  state  religion — laws  providing  for  the  relief 
of  the  poor — laws  relating  to  the  army  and  navy — laws 
determining  the  powers,  composition  and  the  duration  of 
Parliaments — fiscal  laws,  game  laws  and  libel  laws — the 
entire  objective  and  visible  structure  of  society  was  freely 
studied,  if  not  in  a  conciHatory,  at  least  in  a  wholesome 
fashion. 

The  glaring  inequalities  of  representation  in  the  House 
of  Commons  attracted  the  first  attention  of  the  reformers. 
The  constitution  of  that  body  obviously  was  unjustifiable. 
One-half  of  the  membership  of  the  House  of  Commons 
was  returned  by  the  southern  counties  of  England,  which 
contained  but  a  fraction  of  the  population.  In  1793  two 
hundred  and  ninety-four  members — a  majority — were  re- 
turned by  constituencies,  the  greater  part  of  which  had 
less  than  a  hundred  voters  ;  none  had  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty.  At  the  most,  less  than  fifteen  hun- 
dred electors  returned  a  majority  of  the  House.  Even 
this  was  merely  nominal,  for  in  the  words  of  a  recent 
authority  "it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  from  1760 
to  1832  nearly  one-half  of  the  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  owed  their  seats  to  patrons."' 

These  men  were  regarded  as  the  delegates  of  their 
patron.  When  the  nominated  member  made  his  mark, 
congratulations  were  ofifered,  not  to  him,  but  to  his 
patron.  On  the  other  hand,  if  he  displayed  an  undue 
independence,    it    was    customary    to    complain    to    the 

1  Porrit,  The  Unreformed  House  of  Commons,  {,  311. 


36  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [36 

patron  direct.  In  Parliament,  and  in  society,  statesmen 
were  spoken  of  freely  as  Lord  so-and-so's  members. 
The  nine  representatives  of  the  people  in  Parliament 
controlled  by  Sir  James  Lowther  were  popularly  known 
as  Lowther's  ninepins.' 

The  state  of  the  Scotch  representation  was  even  worse 
than  that  of  England.  Electors  in  Scotland  were  so  few 
in  number  that  members  of  Parliament  were  frequently 
on  calling  terms  with  all  their  constituents.  They  varied 
in  number  from  twelve,  in  Bute,  to  two  hundred  and  five 
in  Ayreshire.  In  seven,  the  average  was  only  eighty. 
The  entire  number  to  all  practical  purpose  responded  to 
the  beck  and  call  of  that  prince  of  politicians,  Henry 
Dundas.  These  men  were  controlled  by  means  of  pat- 
ronage, and  it  was  said:  "  There  was  scarcely  a  gentle 
family  in  Scotland  .  .  .  which  had  not  at  some  time  in 
some  of  its  members  received  some  Indian  appointment 
or  other  act  of  kindness  from  Henry  Dundas."^ 

The  conflicts  of  party  politics  in  the  seventies  and 
eighties  of  the  eighteenth  century,  emphasized  with  an 
ever-increasing  lucidity  the  fact  that  a  majority  of  the 
House  of  Commons  were,  in  no  true  sense,  representa- 
tive of  the  nation  as  a  whole,  but  were,  on  the  other 
hand,  none  other  than  the  delegates  of  influential  families. 
In  the  scathing  words  of  Fox,  '*  there  is  one  class  of 
constituents  whose  instructions  it  is  considered  the  duty 
of  members  to  obey.  With  those  who  represent  popular 
towns  and  cities,  it  is  a  disputed  point  whether  they 
ought  to  follow  their  instructions,  or  obey  the  dictates 
of  their  own  consciences ;  but  if  they  represent  a  noble 
lord,  or  noble  duke,  then  it  becomes  no  longer  a  ques- 

1  Porrit,  op.  cit.,  i,  313. 

2  Stanhope,  Life  of  Pitt,  i,  311. 


37]  INTRODUCTION  37 

tion  of  doubt,  and  he  is  considered  no  longer  a  man  of 
honor  who  does  not  implicitly  obey  the  order  of  the 
single  constituent.  He  is  to  have  no  conscience,  no 
liberty  of  his  own.  He  is  sent  here  by  the  lord  of  this, 
or  the  duke  of  that,  and  if  he  does  not  obey  the  instruc- 
tions which  he  receives,  he  is  held  to  be  a  dishonest 
man.  Such  is  the  mode  of  reasoning  in  this  House.  If 
he  dares  to  disagree  with  the  mode  of  reasoning  of  the 
duke,  or  lord,  or  baronet  whose  representative  he  is, 
then  he  must  be  considered  as  unfit  for  the  society  of 
decent  men." ' 

Toward  the  end  of  the  century  some  effort  at  reform 
had  been  made.  Pitt,  in  1785,  vainly  endeavored  to 
bring  about  a  moderate  reform.  The  country  at  the 
time  was  apathetic — or  at  least  unwilling  to  force  the  sit- 
uation, as  it  might  have  done,  by  powerful  and  insistent 
pressure.^  With  the  coming  of  the  French  revolution, 
the  upholders  of  class  privilege,  sustained  by  a  frightened 
conservatism,  more  than  ever  were  determined  to  main- 
tain the  status  quo.  The  friends  of  Parliamentary  re- 
form were  few  in  number  and  well-nigh  powerless. 
In  1793  a  motion  of  Grey's,  asking  leave  to  submit  a 
petition  for  Parliamentary  reform  by  the  "  Friends  of  the 
People,"  was  defeated.  And  this,  despite  the  fact  that  the 
"Friends  of  the  People"  was  by  far  the  most  conservative 
of  the  radical  societies.  No  new  effort  was  made  till 
1797.  At  that  time  Grey  brought  in  a  new  measure.  It 
proposed  to  abolish  many  of  the  more  crying  abuses  of 
the  old  system,  while  at  the  same  time  extending  the 
suffrage  in  a  very  limited  degree.  The  proposal  was 
buried  beneath  the  government's  majority,  and  the  debate 

1  Woodfall,  Parliamentary  Debates,  iii,  329. 

2  J.  Holland  Rose,  IVilliam  Pitt,  and  the  National  Revival,  pp.  203- 
206. 


38  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [38 

on  the  subject  is  scarce  worth  recording,  save  that  in  it 
Fox  gave  notice  of  the  proposed  secession  of  the  Whigs 
from  Parhament.  The  Tory  preponderance  of  1791  had 
become,  in  1797,  a  Tory  mastery. 

The  ecclesiastical  laws  of  England  in  the  restric- 
tions which  they  imposed  were  quite  medieval.  Laws 
dating  back  to  the  time  of  Elizabeth  and  Charles  II  were 
still  on  the  statute  books.  The  more  severe  of  these,  it 
is  true,  were  suspended  by  the  Act  of  Toleration  in  1689, 
in  behalf  of  all  persons  who  foreswore  popery,  or  who 
acknowledged  their  belief  in  the  Trinity — that  is,  all  who 
were  not  Roman  Catholic  or  Unitarian  might  hold  re- 
ligious services  without  molestation.  No  dissenter,  how- 
ever, of  any  creed  was  exempt  from  the  Test  and  Corpo- 
ration Acts.  These  two  laws  forbade  anyone  holding 
any  office  under  the  crown,  or,  indeed,  even  in  the  local 
corporations  of  the  country  (i,  e.,  the  town  govern- 
ments) who  had  not  taken  the  sacrament  according  to 
the  rites  of  the  Anglican  church. 

In  1790  the  friends  of  toleration  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons endeavored  to  repeal  the  Test  and  Corporation 
Acts,  They  pointed  out  the  peaceful  character  of  the 
dissenters,  and  their  loyalty  to  the  house  of  Hanover. 
They  made  much  of  the  irreligious  character  of  the  Test 
Act,  by  which  the  Lord's  Supper  was  made  an  essential 
preliminary  to  all  offices,  from  exciseman  to  admiral. 
"  It  is  a  stain  on  the  fair  memory  of  the  nation,"  claimed 
a  prominent  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  "that 
the  legislature  of  a  country  should  deliberately,  and  by 
express  enactment,  .  .  .  strip  the  altar  of  its  purity,  and 
make  it  the  qualification  desk  for  the  tax  gatherer  and 
public  executioner."'     Not  a  few  members  of  the  House 

1  Parliamentary    Debates,    xxvii,     173.      Mr.     Powys,    in     reply    to 


39]  INTRODUCTION  39 

of  Commons  thought  likewise,  and  fought  with  him  for 
a  repeal.  The  "Church  and  King"  men  were  of  a  different 
opinion,  and  Fox's  motion  for  a  repeal  was  negatived  by 
a  majority  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine. 

The  Roman  Catholics  and  Unitarians,  exempted,  as 
we  have  seen,  from  the  benefits  of  the  Act  of  Toleration, 
were  subjected  to  special  disqualifications.  By  the  law 
of  England,  as  late  as  1791,  a  priest  by  the  fact  of  his 
presence  in  the  country  committed  the  crime  of  high 
treason.  Anyone  who  heard  mass,  or  who  attended  or 
kept  a  Catholic  school,  committed  a  crime  punishable  by 
fine  or  imprisonment.  Unitarian  services  were  illegal  as 
well,  and  to  preach  Unitarianism  involved  the  crime  of 
blasphemy,  for  the  denial  of  the  Trinity  was  so  consid- 
ered. These  laws,  which  marked  out  the  Catholic  and 
the  Unitarian  as  offenders  beyond  the  pale  of  the 
ordinary  dissenter,  were  not  enforced,  but  they  remained 
on  the  statute  books,  to  the  discomfiture  of  both  Cath- 
olic and  Unitarian,  and  for  their  repeal  energetic  meas- 
ures were  set  on  foot. 

The  Roman  Catholics  largely  succeeded  in  their  en- 
deavors. Whigs,  Tories,  and  even  dissenters  them- 
selves, were  not  averse  to  some  measure  of  Catholic 
emancipation.  The  government  was  distinctly  favorable. 
It  had  for  some  time  given  small  salaries  to  those  Cath- 
olic priests  in  Scotland  whose  income  had  been  impaired 
by  the  confiscation  of  estates  in  France.'  Catholicism 
was  a  conservative  bulwark,  as  prominent  conservatives 
acknowledged.  With  the  advance  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution the  status  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  steadily 

Fox,  argued  that  the  way  would  be  open  for  "the  Jew,  the  Moham- 
medan, the  disciples  of  Brahma,  Confucius,  and  every  other  head  of  a 
sectary"  (Mr.  Fox  cried,  "hear!  hear!"). 
1  Amherst,  Catholic  Emancipation,  i,  279-280. 


40  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [40 

improved  in  the  minds  of  England's  governing  class. 
The  church,  at  any  rate,  was  opposed  to  radicalism,  and 
radicalism  was  a  more  dangerous  spectre  by  far  than  the 
return  of  the  Stuarts  to  the  throne. 

A  law  for  the  relief  of  Roman  Catholics  was  enacted 
by  Parliament;  in  1791  the  mass  was  made  legal  in 
England.  No  other  concessions  were  granted.  The 
doors  of  Catholic  churches  could  not  legally  be  locked. 
Catholic  churches  could  not  have  steeples,  and  they 
must  be  licensed,  nor  could  Catholic  vestments  be  worn 
in  any  private  house,  where  the  number  of  persons  con- 
gregated exceeded  five.  Furthermore,  Catholic  peers 
could  not  take  their  place  in  the  House  of  Lords,  nor 
could  Catholics  become  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, or  vote  for  members.  No  crown  office  could  be 
held  by  a  Catholic,  nor  could  a  Catholic  be  legally  mar- 
ried, save  in  an  Anglican  church,  or  be  buried  in  a 
cemetery  where  the  service  was  not  read  by  an  Anglican 
clergyman.' 

Still,  partial  as  this  relief  was,  it  placed  the  Catholic 
in  a  position  far  more  pleasant  than  that  held  by  the 
Unitarian.  Catholic  services  could,  at  any  rate,  be 
legally  conducted.  Unitarian  services,  as  such,  w^ere  a 
direct  violation  of  the  law  of  the  land.  In  1793  an  at- 
tempt was  made  to  relieve  the  Unitarians.  Fox,  who 
at  this  time  championed  their  cause,  pointed  out  the 
inconsistency  of  Parliament  in  ameliorating  the  con- 
dition of  the  Catholics,  while  retaining  in  full  force  the 
statutes  against  Unitarianism.  "The  Unitarians,"  he 
said,  "took  the  same  rule  of  conscience  for  their  guide 
that  the  Trinitarians  did,  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament :  they  believed  in  the  immortality  of  the 

*  Bernard  Ward,  The  Dazvn  of  the  Catholic  Revival  in  England, 
1781-1813,  i,  314. 


41  ]  INTRODUCTION  4I 

soul ;  a  state  of  rewards  and  punishments ;  their  rules  of 
morality  were  the  same ;  their  demeanor  as  citizens  was 
sober  and  exemplary.  As  to  differences  of  opinion  be- 
tween them  and  the  established  church,  these  were  mat- 
ters of  discussion  rather  for  theologians  than  any  other 
body  of  men.  " '  Fox's  relief  measure  did  not  propose 
to  repeal  the  test  in  corporation  laws ;  it  simply  placed 
Unitarians  on  the  same  basis  with  other  dissenters. 
The  proposal,  nevertheless,  met  with  violent  opposition. 
Burke  venomously  led  the  attack.  The  Unitarians  "  he 
condemed  as  base  cowards,  who  had  hitherto  passed 
their  lives  in  holes,  corners  and  lurking  places,  not 
daring  at  any  time  to  show  themselves  as  a  class  of 
men,  till  they  saw  impending  storms — till  the  political 
world  was  threatened  with  convulsions."  ="  They  were 
also  concocting  a  plot  to  destroy  the  constitution  of 
their  country.  They  believed  in  French  ideas,  than 
which  nothing  could  be  more  vile,  and  as  for  his  part 
"  he  wished  to  leave  his  child  those  blessings  that  had 
been  handed  down  to  him  by  his  ancestors ;  to  leave 
them  laws,  religion,  morality,  discipline,  and  subordina- 
tion in  an  army,  manliness  in  their  men  and  chastity  in 
their  women."  ^  Pitt  also  objected  to  the  repeal  of  the 
penal  statutes  which  affected  Unitarianism.  He  thought 
that,  as  the  laws  did  no  actual  harm,  it  was  best  to  let 
sleeping  dogs  lie.  To  repeal  the  acts  might  look  like 
an  attack  on  the  established  religion  of  the  country, 
etc.  In  these  opinions  a  majority  of  the  House  evidently 
concurred,  and  Fox's  motion  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  142 
to  63. 

In  practice,  the  greater  part  of  the  English  ecclesias- 

*  The  Senator,  1792,  p.  790. 

"■Ibid.,^.  796.  ^  Ihid.,  p.  801. 


42  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [42 

tical  legislation  was  a  dead  letter.  The  dissenters  quietly 
went  their  own  way,  not  nearly  as  zealous  on  their  own 
behalf  as  their  friends  were  for  them.  Some  of  them 
felt  that  the  government  was  "a  shield  held  over  their 
head."  And  at  any  rate  their  major  interest  was  in  the 
world  to  come.  But  nevertheless,  the  religious  restric- 
tions established  by  law,  archaic  and  absurd  as  they  were, 
were  an  indisputable  source  of  annoyance. 

Many  have  written  of  the  severity  of  the  English  crim- 
inal law,  generally  with  much  exaggeration.  The  second 
edition  of  Blackstone's  Commentary,  published  in  1769, 
declared  that  160  offences  were  punishable  by  death. 
That  statement  has  been  freely  drawn  upon  as  evidence 
of  the  great  harshness  of  the  English  law.  It  is,  in  itself, 
of  insufficient  proof.  According  to  the  English  custom 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  many  laws  were  passed,  defin- 
ing in  each  case  numerous  specific  crimes.  For  instance, 
no  general  law  of  forgery  existed.  Forgery,  as  such, 
was  not  a  felony,  but  forgery  in  the  instance  of  South 
Sea  bonds,  exchequer  bills,  etc.,  was  a  capital  crime.' 
In  this  case  a  general  enactment,  which  punished  forgery 
with  death,  would  have  been  far  more  severe  than  five 
or  six  different  statutes,  punishing  forgery  in  certain 
circumstances.  Again,  a  great  number  of  specific  laws 
defined  stealing  as  a  felony.  Special  laws  there  were  for 
theft  from  a  ship  in  distress,  for  taking  linen  from  a 
bleaching  ground,  and  for  cutting  down  trees  in  an 
orchard.''  A  single  statute,  inflicting  the  death  penalty 
for  all  kinds  of  stealing,  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
more  drastic  than  fifty  laws  applying  to  as  many  differ- 
ent kinds  of  theft. 

^  Stephens,  History  of  the  Criminal  Law  of  England,  i,  470. 

'  Colquhoun,  Police  of  the  Metropolis,  5th  edition,  1797,  pp.  284-286. 


43]  INTRODUCTION  43 

Furthermore,  the  severity  of  the  law  had  been,  toward 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  tempered  by  the 
growth  of  conditional  pardon-granting.  It  was  quite 
generally  the  custom  to  commute  the  death-penalty  of 
prisoners  by  sending  them  to  Australia,  and,  in  fact,  so 
frequent  had  these  commutations  become,  that  in  1768 
a  statute  was  passed  to  facilitate  the  pardoning  process 
still  further.'  The  administration  of  justice,  however,  if 
not  as  barbaric  and  inhuman  as  we  have  been  led  to  be- 
lieve, was  bad  enough.  Too  many  offences,  undoubt- 
edly, were  punishable  by  death.  The  severity  of  the  law, 
also,  increased  rather  than  diminished  crime.  Tender- 
hearted jurymen  oftentimes  preferred  to  acquit  petty 
offenders  rather  than  to  convict  them  of  a  capital  offense, 
and  this  miscarriage  of  justice  set  many  prisoners  free. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  uncertainties  of  the  law  were 
justly  criticised.  Too  much  depended  on  the  whim  of 
the  judge.  No  one  could  tell  whether  the  criminal  would 
be  punished  or  set  at  liberty. 

Though  the  laws  which  so  jealously  defined  the  re- 
ligious status  of  the  Englishman  were  archaic,  though 
the  laws  which  defined  and  punished  offences  against 
persons  and  property  were  excessively  severe,  in  both 
instances  the  plea  could  be  made  that  in  practice  the 
theory  was  greatly  modified.  No  such  exception  can 
be  urged  for  the  poor  laws.  Ominous,  indeed,  in  out- 
line, it  is  not  easy  to  exaggerate  the  frightful  results 
of  their  operation.  In  accordance  with  the  English  law 
of  1782  (Gilbert's  Act),  none  but  the  impotent  were  al- 
lowed in  the  workhouse.  All  able-bodied  men  were  to 
have  work  found  for  them  near  their  homes.     The  intent 

*  Stephens,  History  of  the  Criminal  Law  of  England,  i,  471. 


44  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [44 

of  this  act  was  a  kindly  one  ;  the  result  was  unfortunate, 
for  a  huge  increase  in  the  poor  rates  took  place,  without 
any  corresponding  relief  of  suffering. 

This  policy  of  state  pauperization  begun  in  1782  was 
carried  to  greater  lengths  by  the  Speenhamland  Act  of 
1795.  In  compliance  with  its  rulings  wages  were  to  be 
supplemented  from  the  poor  rates  in  accordance  with  the 
fluctuation  of  the  price  of  wheat  and  the  number  of  chil- 
dren in  a  family.' 

The  Act  proved  to  be  very  discouraging  to  the  inde- 
pendent laborer.  Frequently  he  found  that  his  wages 
were  lowered  as  a  result  of  the  law,  for  the  responsibility 
of  paying  him  rested  no  longer  with  the  employer,  but 
with  the  parish.  The  individual  employer  could  not  im- 
prove the  condition  of  his  men,  nor  could  the  men  im- 
prove their  own  lot,  for  the  former  was  obliged  to  pay  in 
the  form  of  poor  rates  a  proportion  of  the  wages  of  those 
men  whom  his  neighbor  employed,  while  the  latter  was 
constantly  discouraged  by  the  knowledge  that  his  less- 
provident  fellow  received  state  relief  which  equaled  the 
reward  of  his  own  labor. 

The  workman,  pauperized  by  the  poor  law,  was  forbid- 
den, both  by  the  common  law  and  by  special  statutes,  from 
all  combinations  which  might  force  a  higher  rate  of  wage. 
The  common  law  doctrine  said  to  have  been  invoked  as  a 
legal  subterfuge  for  this  purpose  was  that  known  as  Illeg- 
ality of  Proceedings  in  Restraint  of  Trade.  This  doctrine 
had  been  constantly  supplemented  by  Parliamentary  enact- 
ments, which  forbade  combinations  in  particular  trades. 
Finally,   in    1799,   a  blanket  statute  was   placed   on   the 

^  Nicholls,  History  of  the  English  Poor  Law,  ii,  131.  For  a  good 
account  of  the  so-called  "  Pig-stye  "  era  of  the  English  poor  law,  see 
Hammond,  op.  cit.,  p.  161  et  seq. 


45]  INTRODUCTION  4- 

books,  which  forbade  all  combinations  of  workingmen/ 
This  act  was  passed  apparently  without  debate,  and  it  is 
not  even  referred  to  in  the  Annual  Register  for  1799. 

1  Sidney  and  Beatrice  Webb,  History  of  Trade  Unions,  p.  62,.  A 
legal  controversy  of  great  length  has  arisen  over  the  question  of  the 
common  law  involved  in  this  statute.  Stephen,  Criminal  Law,  op.  cit., 
iii,  211,  holds  that  the  common  law  doctrine  mentioned  above  was 
not  the  basis  for  the  act  of  1799.  Sir  William  Earle,  Trade  Unionism, 
p.  57,  holds  that  it  was.  For  a  summary  of  the  argument  see  Chal- 
mers-Hunt, Tlie  Law  Relating  to  Trade  Unions,  p.  119. 


CHAPTER  1. 
Defining  the  Issue. 

representative  champions  of  conservatism  :  burke, 
hannah  more,  and  john  reeves. 

In  so  far  as  the  time  of  its  nativity  may  be  established, 
revolutionary  radicalism  was  born  in  October,  1790. 
Then  was  published  Burke's  "  Reflections  "  on  the  French 
Revolution.  This  book  was  the  conservative  call  to 
arms ;  it  was  more.  Hammer  and  anvil  it  proved  for 
the  vague  and  undefined  radicalism  of  its  day — a  ham- 
mer and  anvil  which  beat  with  incredible  rapidity  in- 
choate, nebulous  sentimentality  into  firm,  hard  dogma. 
By  its  publication  the  slow  sifting  of  English  public 
opinion  was  rapidly  quickened.  The  older  radicalism  of 
1790  became  suddenly  a  side  issue.  Coincidentally  "  His 
Majesty's  Opposition"  became,  though  less  evidently, 
distinctly  a  third  party.  Its  place,  in  number  of  adher- 
ents, in  vitality,  and  perhaps  even  in  influence,  had  been 
largely  usurped  by  the  fast-forming,  rapidly  coalescing 
group  of  younger  radicals. 

All  these  demarcations  may  be  said  to  date  from  the 
appearance  of  the  "  Reflections."  From  that  point  the 
schism  within  the  Whig  ranks  may  be  intellectually 
traced  ;  so  likewise  may  the  swing  toward  Toryism  of  many 
old  reformers.  Undoubtedly,  great  impetus  and  head 
was  given  to  the  radical  cause  by  the  publication  of  this 
book.  It  afforded  a  common  object  of  attack.  It  was, 
46  [46 


47]  DEFINING  THE  ISSUE  47 

indeed,  the  conservative  platform ;  the  reasoned  accepted 
defence  of  things  as  they  were,  which  the  conservative 
element  in  the  nation  was  as  glad  to  defend  as  was  the 
radical  to  attack. 

Edmund  Burke,  as  a  politician,  statesman  and  philoso- 
pher, has  been  exhaustively  studied.  Every  action  of 
his  life,  every  whim  of  his  fancy,  has  been  expanded, 
analyzed,  cherished.  Such  scrutiny  is  quite  remote  from 
our  purpose.  Burke,  in  the  study  of  radical  thought  and 
action,  stands  simply  as  conservatism  incarnate.  Why 
he  was  conservative  :  by  what  motives  real  or  imagined, 
open  or  ulterior,  he  was  influenced,  we  need  not  con- 
sider.' Burke,  indeed,  as  an  individual,  might  even  fade 
from  our  memory  provided  his  prominence  in  generating 
the  discussions  of  his  day  be  appreciated,  and  the  real 
purport  of  his  position  as  the  conservative  champion  be 
clearly  understood. 

It  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  select  from  this  book 
of  Burke's  many  passages  intemperate  or  virulent.  Like- 
wise one  could  cull  from  the  same  source  absurd  conclu- 
sions and  historical  misstatements  aplenty.  Friend  and 
foe  alike  recognize  the  vulnerability  of  Burke  in  this 
particular,  and  criticism  of  such  faults  we  may  readily 
pass  over.  Also  Burke  discusses  many  details  of  French 
history  upon  which  we  may  not  linger.  Indeed,  wholly 
eliminating  questions  of  taste,  rhetoric  and  minute  fact, 
to  what  general  principles  does  Burke  nail  his  flag? 

Government,  Burke  defines  as  "  a  contrivance  of  human 

^  Some  critics  openly  defend  Burke's  attitude;  others  think  he 
sought  a  peerage  for  himself  or  his  son;  still  others  that  he  was  in- 
sane. As  an  illustration  of  intensive  Burkian  study,  the  ingenious  ex- 
planation that  the  "  Reflections "  were  a  logical  outcome  of  Burke's 
attitude  toward  the  Regency  Bill  of  the  year  previous  is  sufficient. 
Laprade,  England  and  the  French  Revolution,  p.  17. 


48  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [48 

wisdom  to  provide  for  human  wants."'  "The  science 
of  the  construction  of  the  Commonwealth  is  Hke  every 
other  science,  not  to  be  taught  « /r/tr/."^ 

The  British  construction,  Burke  was  persuaded,  had 
been  thus  fashioned.  He  saw  no  reason  for  change. 
The  preponderant  voice  of  property  in  the  councils  of 
the  nation  was  justified.  ''  Nothing  is  a  due  and  ade- 
quate representation  of  a  state  that  does  not  represent 
its  ability  as  well  as  its  property,  but  as  ability  is  a  vigor- 
ous and  active  principle,  and  as  property  is  sluggish, 
inert  and  timid,  it  never  can  be  safe  from  the  invasions 
of  ability  unless  it  be  out  of  all  proportion  predominant 
in  the  representation."  ^  To  make  this  superiority  doubly 
secure,  he  adds  that  property  should  be  held  only  by  a 
few.  The  maintenance  of  the  Law  of  Entail  secured  this, 
and  Burke  believed  that  it  was  good.  A  religious  estab- 
lishment he  pronounced  only  secondary  to  a  property- 
controlled  government.  "This  consecration  of  the  state 
by  a  state  religious  establishment,"  he  affirms,  "  is  neces- 
sary also  to  operate  with  a  wholesome  awe  upon  free 
citizens."  ♦  A  perfect  democracy  he  thought  "  both 
shameless  and  fearless,"  because  the  citizens  fall  into  such 
a  state  that  their  own  will  is  the  ultimate  standard  of 
right  and  wrong.  The  church  prevents  this  evil  and  the 
people  know  the  value  of  the  church,  for  "  in  England 
.  .  .  there  is  no  rust  of  superstition  which  the  accumu- 
lated absurdity  of  the  human  mind  might  have  crusted 
over  in  the  course  of  ages  that  the  people  of  England 
would  not  prefer  to  impiety."  ^  Hardly  too  much  em- 
phasis can  be  laid,  according  to  Burke,  on  external 
authority  which  an  established  church  imposes.  Even 
British  education,  he  exults,  conforms  to  this  idea,  for,  by 

'  Burke,  Reflections,  p.  70.         ^  Ibid.,  p.  71.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  59. 

*Ibid.,  p.  109.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  106. 


49]  DEFINING  THE  ISSUE  40 

sending  the  younger  sons  of  the  nobility  on  their  tours 
in  care  of  clerical  gentlemen,  the  ascendency  of  religion 
is  lastingly  stamped  on  the  plastic  intelligence  of  those 
who  will  eventually  guide  the  destinies  of  the  nation. 

Burke  approves  of  the  above-mentioned  checks  for 
preventing  destructive  change.  He  is  not  opposed  to 
reform,  he  tells  us,  "  when  the  useful  parts  of  an  old 
establishment  are  kept,  and  what  is  superadded  is  to  be 
fitted  to  what  is  retained."  If  reform  comes  in  this 
way,  then,  and  then  only,  may  we  change  and  innovate, 
or,  in  Burke's  words  "  in  what  I  did  I  should  follow  the 
example  of  our  ancestors." 

Burke  does  not,  in  his  "  Reflections,"  suggest  that 
any  innovation  is  desirable.  He  is  convinced  not  only 
that  the  British  nation  is  in  a  very  satisfactory  condition, 
but  also  that  his  countrymen  are  of  the  same  mind.  In 
a  celebrated  passage  he  dismisses  all  radical  agitation  as 
follows:  "Because  half  a  dozen  grasshoppers  under  a 
fern  make  the  field  ring  with  their  importunate  chink, 
whilst  thousands  of  great  cattle  repose  'neath  the  British 
oak,  chew  the  cud  and  are  silent,  pray  do  not  imagine 
that  those  who  make  the  most  noise  are  the  only  inhabi- 
tants of  the  field,  nor  of  course  that  they  are  many  in 
number,  nor,  after  all,  other  than  the  little,  shriveled, 
meager,  hopping,  loud  and  troublesome  insects  of  the 
hour.'" 

Thus  spoke  Burke.  In  justice  to  him  it  is  fair  to  recall 
the  intensified  horror  with  which  he  viewed  the  trend  of 
French  affairs.  The  depth  of  that  feeling  we  of  the 
twentieth  century  may  not  accurately  gauge,  but  we  do 
acknowledge  its  existence.  Furthermore,  throughout 
his  turbid,  and  often  unjust,  denunciation  of  events  in 
France,  Burke  is  in  reality  defending  a  principle  pro- 
*  Burke,  Reflections,  p.  100. 


CO  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [50 

fessed  by  the  radicals  themselves :  the  test  of  a  medicine 
lies  in  the  cure.  Very  well,  Burke  tells  us ;  the  experi- 
mental cure  has  been  tried  and  found  wanting. 

Burke's  book  interprets  the  spirit  of  conservatism,  but 
its  interpretation  is  one-sided.  His  masterpiece  reflects 
conservatism  as  presented  in  its  best  aspect.  A  little 
pamphlet,  "Village  Politics,"  best  reflects  it  as  presented 
to  an  ignorant  agricultural  and  industrial  class.  "Vil- 
lage Politics,  addressed  to  all  the  Mechanics,  Journey- 
men and  Laborers  in  Great  Britain,"  was  a  phenom- 
enally popular  book.  Presumably  written  by  Will  Chip, 
a  country  carpenter,  the  actual  author  was  that  estimable 
lady,  Hannah  More,  and  her  purpose  was  the  inculcation 
of  true   principles  among  the  lower  classes. 

Hannah  More  said  of  the  book  herself:  "  It  is  as  vul- 
gar as  heart  can  wish,  but  it  is  only  designed  for  the  most 
vulgar  class  of  readers."'  The  English  "squirearchy" 
was  unanimous  in  upholding  it  as  an  admirable  sedative 
for  the  lower  orders,  and  largely  on  that  account  "Vil- 
lage Politics "  had  a  tremendous  sale.  The  bishop  of 
London  wrote  to  "Mrs."  More:  "'Village  Politics'  is 
universally  extolled.  It  has  been  read  and  greatly  ad- 
mired at  Windsor,  and  its  fame  is  spreading  rapidly  over 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom.  I  gave  one  to  the  attorney- 
general,  who  has  recommended  it  to  the  association  at 
the  Crown  and  Anchor,  which  will  disperse  it  through- 
out the  country.  Mr.  Cambridge  says  that  Swift  could 
not  have  done  it  better.  I  am  perfectly  of  that  opinion. 
It  is  a  masterpiece  of  its  kind."*  There  were  many  who 
agreed  with  the  Bishop,  and  wide  approval  was  expressed 
by  the  gentry,  who  bought  copies  wholesale. ^     Clergy- 

^  Hannah  More  to  Mrs.  Boscowan,  1793.    Roberts,  Life  and  Corres- 
pondence of  Mrs.  Hannah  More,  ii,  345. 
»  Ibid.,  p.  343-  '  ^bid.,  p.  348. 


51  ]  DEFINING  THE  ISSUE  cj 

men  aided  in  its  distribution.  In  the  newly  founded 
Mendip  schools,  "Village  Politics  "  was  said  to  have  been 
greeted  with  delight,  and  indeed  many  copies  were  sent 
to  Hannah  More,  with  the  intimation  that  she  should 
emulate  the  methods  of  the  unknown  author. 

The  little  tract  which  excited  this  interest  was  a  dia- 
logue between  Jack  Anvil,  the  blacksmith,  and  Tom  Hod, 
the  mason.  Tom  is  filled  with  novel  ideas.  He  reads 
books.  He  is  discontented  and  desires  a  new  state  of 
affairs  in  England.  Jack  Anvil  rallies  him  on  his  belief. 
"  I  tell  thee,  Tom,"  he  says,  "we  have  a  fine  constitution 
already,  and  our  fathers  thought  so." 

To?n:  "They  were  a  pack  of  fools  and  had  never  read 
the  '  Rights  of  Man.'  " 

Jack:  "  I'll  tell  thee  a  story.  When  Sir  John  married, 
my  lady,  who  is  a  little  fantastical,  and  likes  to  do  every- 
thing like  the  French,  begged  him  to  pull  down  yonder 
fine  old  castle.  .  .  .  '  No,'  says  Sir  John,  ' .  .  .  this 
noble  building  raised  by  the  wisdom  of  my  ancestors 
.  .  .  shall  I  pull  it  all  down  .  .  .  only  because  there  may 
be  a  dark  closet,  or  an  awkward  passage  or  inconvenient 
room  or  two  in  it.  Our  ancestors  took  time  for  what 
they  did;  they  understood  foundation  work;  no  running 
up  your  little  slight  lath  and  plaster  buildings,  which  are 
up  in  a  day  and  down  in  a  night.'   ..." 

Toi7i:  "But  the  times,  but  the  taxes,  Jack." 

Jack:  "  Things  are  dear,  to  be  sure,  but  riot  and 
murder  is  not  the  way  to  make  them  cheap.  .  .  .  Beside, 
things  are  mending.  .  .  and  I  dare  say  if  the  honest 
gentleman  who  has  the  management  of  things  is  not 
disturbed  by  you  levellers  things  will  mend  every  day. 
But  bear  one  thing  in  mind,  the  more  we  riot  the  more 
we  shall  have  to  pay.  The  more  mischief  is  done,  the 
more  will   repairs   cost.     The   more  time   we   waste   in 


^2  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [52 

meeting  to  redress  public  wrongs,  the  more  we  shall 
increase  our  private  wants.  .  . 

7om:  "But  the  subject  is  not  below  the  king.  All 
kings  are  crowned  ruffians  and  all  goverments  are  wicked. 
For  my  part  I  am  resolved  to  pay  no  more  taxes  to  any 
of  them." 

Jack:  "Tom,  Tom,  if  thou  did'st  go  oftener  to 
church  .  .  .  The  book  tells  you  that  we  need  obey  no 
government  but  that  of  the  people,  .  .  .  but  mine  tells 
me  that  every  one  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers,  for 
all  power  is  of  God.  Whosoever  resisteth  the  power 
resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God.  .  .  .  Tom?  I  have  got 
the  use  of  my  limbs,  of  my  liberty,  of  the  laws,  and  of 
my  Bible.  The  two  first  I  take  to  be  my  natural  rights; 
the  two  last  my  civil  and  religious  rights :  these,  I  take 
it,  are  the  true  Rights  of  Man,  and  all  the  rest  is  noth- 
ing but  nonsense,  and  madness  and  wickedness.  My 
cottage  is  my  castle  ;  I  sit  down  in  it  at  night  in  peace 
and  thankfulness,  and  'no  man  maketh  me  afraid.'  In- 
stead of  indulging  discontent,  because  another  is  richer 
than  I  in  this  world  (for  envy  is  at  the  bottom  of  your 
equality  works)  I  read  my  Bible,  go  to  church,  and  look 
forward  to  a  treasure  in  Heaven."^ 

The  piety  and  wisdom  of  Will  Chip  made  so  great  an 
impression  that  other  dialogues  were  planned.  Three  a 
year  were  to  be  published  under  the  title  of  "  Cheap 
Repository  Tracts."  The  bishop  of  London,  a  royal 
duke,  and  William  Wilberforce  were  patrons  of  this 
series.  Under  their  auspices  the  Repository  Tracts 
were  widely  circulated  throughout  the  country.^ 

'  Hannah  More,  Works,  i,  225-240  passim. 

''Among  them  were:  Betty  Brown,  the  St.  Giles  Oratige  Girl;  Black 
Giles,  the  Poacher;  Sorrowful  Sam,  the  Blacksmith;  Patient  Joe,  or 
the  Newcastle  Collier;  The  Gin-shop,  or  a  Peep  into  Prison;  A  Riot, 


53]  DEFINING  THE  ISSUE  50 

No  statement  of  the  conservative  platform,  however 
simple,  can  vv^ith  justice  fail  to  mention  "The  association 
for  preserving  liberty  and  property  against  republicans 
and  levellers."  This  organization  was  formed  on  No- 
vember twentieth,  1792,  "at  a  meeting  of  gentlemen  at 
the  Crown  and  Anchor  Tavern."' 

The  chairman  of  this  meeting  was  a  certain  John 
Reeves,  formerly  one  of  his  Majesty's  judges.  Radical- 
ism had  no  more  bitter  enemy  than  John  Reeves.  His 
association  was  active  in  the  prosecution  of  real  and  sup- 
posed libels  against  the  crown  ;  in  publishing  and  dis- 
tributing cheap  tracts  on  behalf  of  the  Tory  party ;  and 
in   founding    other    societies    throughout    the    country."* 

or  Half  a  Loaf  is  Better  than  no  Bread.  This  latter  pamphlet  was 
written  in  1795.  It  was  said  to  have  prevented  the  destruction  of  prop- 
erty during  a  coal  strike.  The  wise  Jack  Anvil  soothes  once  more  the 
troubled  waters  in  a  speech,  of  which  this  is  an  extract: 

"  And  though  I've  no  money,  and  though  I've  no  lands, 
I've  head  on  my  shoulders,  and  a  pair  of  good  hands; 
So  I'll  work  the  whole  day,  and  on  Sundays  I'll  seek 
At  church  how  to  bear  all  the  wants  of  the  week. 
The  gentlefolks,  too,  will  afford  us  supplies. 
They'll  subscribe — and  they'll  give  up  their  puddings  and  pies. 

Derry  Down." 

1  Annual  Register,  1792,  p.  92. 

^  The  original  resolutions  of  the  society  were : 

"  First,  that  the  persons  present  at  this  meeting  do  become  a  society 
for  discouraging  and  suppressing  seditious  publications  tending  to  dis- 
turb the  peace  of  this  kingdom,  and  for  supporting  a  due  execution  of 
the  laws  made  for  the  protection  of  persons  and  property. 

"  Second,  that  the  society  do  use  its  best  endeavors  occasionally  to 
explain  these  topics  of  public  discussion,  which  have  been  so  perverted 
by  evil  designing  men,  and  to  show  by  irrefragible  proof  that  they  are 
not  applicable  to  the  state  of  this  country;  that  they  can  produce  no 
good,  and  certainly  must  produce  great  evil. 

"  Third,  that  this  society  will  receive  with  great  thanks  all  commu- 
nications that  shall  be  made  to  it  for  the  above  purposes. 

"  Fourth,  that  it  be  recommended  to  all  those  who  are  friends  to  the 


54  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [54 

Reeves  himself  was  more  zealous  than  wise.  Particularly 
was  this  true  of  his  authorship  of  "Thoughts  on  English 
Government."  This  pamphlet  was  so  ultra-partisan  in  char- 
acter that  it  was  accused  of  libelling  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and,  in  a  debate  against  the  coercive  measures  of 
Pitt,  a  Mr.  Sturt  for  the  opposition  quoted  effectively 
from  the  "Thoughts"  to  the  effect  that  "the  government 
of  England  is  a  monarchy ;  the  monarchy  is  the  ancient 
stock  from  which  have  sprung  those  goodly  branches  of 
legislature,  the  Lords  and  Commons.  .  .  .  But  these  still 
are  only  branches,  and  derive  their  origin  and  nutriment 
from  the  common  parent ;  they  may  be  lopped  off,  and 
the  tree  is  a  tree  still — shorn,  indeed,  of  its  honors,  but 

established  law  and  to  peaceable  society,  to  form  themselves  in  their 
different  neighborhoods  into  similar  societies  for  promoting  the  same 
laudable  purposes. 

"  Fifth,  that  this  society  do  meet  at  this  place  or  elsewhere  every 
Tuesday,  Thursday  and  Saturday. 

"  Sixth,  that  these  considerations  and  resolutions  be  printed  in  all 
the  public  papers,  and  otherwise  circulated  into  all  parts  of  the  king- 
dom." 

Among  the  publications  of  the  society  were :  "  Dialogues  on  the 
Rights  of  Britons,  between  a  farmer,  sailor  and  manufacturer;"  A 
Dialogue  between  a  laborer  and  a  gentleman ;"  "  A  Dialogue  between 

Mr.  T ,  a  tradesman  in  the  city,  and  his  porter,  John  W ."  These 

dialogues,  which  the  Society  published,  and  others  which  it  approved 
of,  were  written  on  the  model  of  Hannah  More's  "Village  Poli- 
tics." For  instance  in  "  Plain  English  for  All  Parties,"  Will  Blunt 
exclaims:  "We  can  none  of  us  be  independent  one  of  another.  The 
rich  stand  in  need  of  the  poor,  and  the  poor  in  need  of  the  rich ;  the 
money  of  the  one  is  as  necessary  to  buy  the  materials,  such  as  wool, 
iron,  timber  and  cattle,  as  the  labor  of  the  poor  is  to  increase  the  rich 
man's  property.  To  what  purpose  would  it  be  to  sow  torn,  breed  cattle, 
and  weave  woolen  or  cotton,  if  there  were  not  people  enough  to  buy  it." 

A  similar  pamphlet  was  entitled  "  Free  Communings ;  or  a  Last 
Attempt  to  Cure  the  Lunatics  now  Laboring  under  that  Dreadful  Mal- 
ady Commonly  Called  the  French  Disease."  The  characters  in  this 
pamphlet  were,  Mr.  Timothy  Crab,  a  reformer,  and  Mr.  Charles 
Hearty,  a  Royalist. 


55]  DEFINING  THE  ISSUE  55 

not  like  them  cast  into  the  fire."  If  the  radical  publica- 
tions are  to  be  prosecuted,  how  about  this  Tory  pamphlet, 
cries  Mr.  Sturt,  which  says  that  the  House  of  Com- 
mons may  be  lopped  of¥.'  This  lead  was  eagerly  fol- 
lowed by  several  of  the  Whig  leaders.  A  select  commit- 
tee discovered  the  authorship  of  the  "Thoughts,"  which 
were  published  anonymously,  and  Reeves  was  indicted 
and  tried  for  seditious  libel.  He  was  acquitted,  but  the 
jury  said  they  were  of  "  the  opinion  that  the  pamphlet 
which  has  been  written  by  J.  Reeves,  Esq.,  is  a  very  im- 
proper publication."''  The  "Thoughts"  is  not  as  repre- 
sentative of  Tory  opinion  as  the  "  Reflections "  or 
"Village  Politics."  Nevertheless  the  Bourbonism  which 
it  expresses  is  frequently  to  be  encountered. 

Our  treatise,  as  an  analysis  of  radical  opinion,  does 
not  pretend  to  do  more  than  to  state  the  conservative 
position  in  as  fair  a  light  as  possible.  The  fact  that  im- 
portant supplements  were  made  by  Burke  to  the  Reflec- 
tions,^ that  Arthur  Young  rushed  to  his  assistance,"^  that 
learned  judges  and  other  dignitaries  defended  the  con- 
servative intrenchments,  does  not  invalidate  the  claim  that 
the  three  writers  we  have  quoted  represent  with  fair  com- 

1  Parliamentary  Register,  xliii,  287. 

^  State  Trials,  xxvi,  594. 

^  Appeal  from  the  New  to  the  Old  IVhigs,  1791.  Letter  to  the  Duke 
of  Portland,  1793.  Throughts  on  the  Prospects  of  a  Peace  with  the 
Regicide  Directory,  1796. 

*  Young,  The  Example  of  France  a  Warning  to  England,  1794.  For 
•this  book  Young  received  a  great  many  letters  of  congratulation  from 
private  friends  and  numerous  votes  of  thanks  from  Loyalist  associa- 
tions. "  Correspondence  of  Arthur  Young,"  British  Museum,  Addi- 
tional MSS.,  vol.  ii,  pp.  250,  253,  267  et  seq.  Young  was  accused  of 
being  in  the  government's  employ.  He  denied  this  in  a  letter  dated 
December  25th,  1795. 


c6  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [56 

prehensiveness  the  Tory  ideal.  At  any  rate  there  can  be 
no  question  concerning  the  "Reflections"  and  "Village 
Politics."  No  upholder  of  the  old  order  caviled  at  these 
books  ;  they  stood  side  by  side ;  both  were  read  widely ; 
both  bore  the  imprimatur  of  a  united  Tory  party. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Pamphlet  Skirmishing. 

the  older  radicals  briefly  surveyed  :  price,  priest- 
ley, horne  tooke  and  major  cartwright.     cur- 
sory treatment  of  scurrilous,  anonymous 
and  incidental  literature. 

Burke's  pronunciamento  called  forth  thirty-eight  re- 
plies. Many  Tories  flew  to  arms  in  his  defence ;  cudgels 
were  freely  handled  by  both  sides.  Following  hard  upon 
the  publication  of  the  "Reflections"  were  issued  num- 
berless "  Counter-reliections,"  "Tracts,"  "Strictures," 
"Inquiries,"  "Refutations,"  "Remarks,"  "Animadver- 
sions," "Letters"  and  "Addresses."  This  great  out- 
pouring virtually  began  with  Burke.  It  increased  in  vol- 
ume and  intensity  throughout  the  years  1794  and  1795, 
amid  the  hard  times  and  the  excitement  of  the  treason 
trials.  Lessening  to  a  considerable  degree  with  the 
naval  victories  of  the  next  two  years,  accompanied  as 
they  were  by  an  ever-growing  British  patriotism,  hostile 
in  the  same  breath  to  France  and  to  imported  French 
ideals,  a  brisk  pamphlet  skirmish  between  the  friends  of 
Burke  and  those  of  his  chief  enemy,  Paine,  was  main- 
tained, even  until  the  end  of  the  century.  This  contro- 
versy may  in  part  be  treated  with  scant  respect,  for  only 
by  the  elimination  of  a  large  portion  of  it  may  we  form  a 
just  estimate  of  radical  opinion. 

The  writings  of  the  Whig  minority  we  shall  omit 
altogether.  They  were  not  radical  at  all.  Furthermore, 
57]  57 


^8  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [58 

their  ranks,  since  the  defection  of  Burke,  had  become 
much  thinned.  Able  men  were  enrolled  among  them; 
able  men  defended  their  principles  outside  of  Parliament ; 
but  they  were  few  in  number,  and  their  voice  was  as  one 
crying  in  the  wilderness, — a  futile  cross-current  in  the 
midst  of  a  storm.' 

Then,  too,  for  the  purpose  of  demarking  as  clearly 
as  possible  the  radical  opinion  of  the  day,  one  other 
body  of  writers  must  be  dismissed  with  an  equally  curt 
notice.  That  body  comprised  what  might  be  termed  the 
group  of  older  Radicals.  Among  them  were  very  dis- 
tinguished men.  Their  names  are  as  well,  if  not  better, 
known  as  those  of  the  younger  and  more  influential 
radicals  of  the  decade.  Still  it  is  fair  to  dismiss  them 
with  but  brief  mention.  They  belong  to  an  earlier 
school  of  thought,  and  their  work  was  well  over  by  1791. 
Some  of  them  lingered  on,  it  is  true,  until  the  nineteenth 
century.  But  their  ideals  were  those  of  an  earher  day, 
the  aspiration  of  which  do  not  fall  within  the  province 
of  this  discussion. 

As  illustrative  of  the  work  and  aims  of  these  elder 
statesmen  in  the  radical  camp,  brief  mention  may  be  made 
of  Richard  Price,  Joseph  Priestley,  John  Home  Tooke 
and  Major  Cartwright. 

Price,  from  several  points  of  view,  represents  fairly  the 
temper  of  the  earlier  reformers.  A  stanch  believer  in 
theoretical  freedom,   he   boldly  and    forcefully  defended 

*  Cappell  Lofft,  Remarks  on  the  Letters  of  Edmund  Btirke,  17<^- 
Lofft  has  been  generally  classified  as  a  Whig,  'because  of  his  friend- 
ship with  Fox  and  other  Whig  leaders.  His  career,  however,  was  re- 
markably independent  of  party.  So  also  was  Dr.  Samuel  Parr's.  Parr 
hoped  for  the  "  cramming  of  such  ministers  as  Pitt,  such  bishops  as 
Horsley,  and  such  reformers  as  Home  Tooke  into  a  basket,  [said 
basket]  to  be  tossed  into  the  ocean."     Parr,  Works,  vii.  650. 


59]  PAMPHLET  SKIRMISHING  59 

the  American  Revolution.  A  Unitarian  minister  of  dis- 
tinction, he  consistently  fought  for  the  repeal  of  the  test 
laws.  Disgusted  with  the  corruption  rampant  among 
Whigs  and  Tories  alike,  he  championed  the  cause  of  a 
thorough  reform  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  finally, 
as  a  warm-hearted,  sympathetic  man,  he  enthusiastically 
approved  of  the  earlier  stages  of  the  French  revolution. 
But  beyond  these  ideas  Price  did  not  go  far,  nor  did  his 
fellow  old-time  reformers.  Born  in  1723,  Price,  though 
not  ranking  high  in  pulpit  oratory,'  became  soon  after 
the  middle  of  the  century  widely  recognized  as  a  writer 
upon  religious  and  metaphysical  subjects.  Shortly  after 
this,  in  1772,  in  publishing  a  book  on  the  subject  of  the 
national  debt,  he  evinced  a  profound  knowledge  of 
finance^  and  speedily  attained  an  international  reputation 
as  an  economist.  We  find  him  in  continuous  communi- 
cation with  Turgot,  while  the  American  Continental  Con- 
gress sought  his  assistance  in  the  regulation  of  its 
finances. 3  As  a  man  of  affairs  Price  now  stood  high. 
His  writings  were  received  with  favor.  His  work,  both 
educational  and  religious,  was  highly  appreciated.  Aside 
from  all  this  a  single  act,  and  that  the  last  public  effort 
of  his  life,  has  assured  Richard  Price  historical  promi- 
nence. 

On  the  fourth  of  November,  1789,  in  his  meeting-house 
in  old  Jewry,  Price  preached  one  of  the  best-known  ser- 
mons in  history.  That  sermon  fully  summarized  the 
ideals  of  the  early  reformers.  Price  is  looking  back- 
ward, not  forward.  He  is  praising  liberty,  it  is  true,  but 
it  is  the  liberty  achieved  in  theory  by  the  revolution  of 
1688.     His  chief  thesis  is  to  affirm  and  demonstrate  a 

1  William  Morgan,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Rev.  Richard  Price,  p.  30. 
'  Price,  An  Appeal  to  ike  Public  on  the  National  Debt. 
*  Morgan,  op.  cit.,  p.  76. 


6o  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [60 

three-fold  right  obtained  by  that  revoUition,  to  wit,  that 
the  people  have  the  right  to  choose  their  kings  ;  the  right 
to  cashier  them  for  misconduct;  and  the  right  to  form  a 
government  for  themselves.  These  ideals  more  nearly 
resembled  ancient  traditions  than  dangerous  innovations, 
and  yet,  forsooth,  because  Burke  singled  out  this  sermon 
for  attack,  we  must,  according  to  certain  writers,  think 
of  Price  as  the  chosen  champion  of  the  French  revolution 
in  England.'  But  Price  was  already  an  old  man :  his 
work  was  done.  He  died  destined  not  even  to  behold 
the  struggles  of  the  revolutionary  party  in  England. 

The  career  of  Joseph  Priestley  was  not  unlike  that  of 
Price.  Also  an  eminent  Unitarian  clergyman,  Priestley 
had  two  major  interests  :  theology  and  experimental 
chemistry.  In  the  history  of  both  Unitarianism  and 
chemistry  he  ranks  with  the  highest,  but  as  an  exponent 
of  theoretical  radicalism,  he  occupies  no  considerable  po- 
sition, for  not  only  was  his  radicalism,  if  we  may  call  it 
such,  of  the  somewhat  antiquated  type  represented  by 
Price,  but  likewise  its  expression  and  influence  were,  by 
1791,  already  a  thing  of  the  past. 

As  indicative  of  Priestley's  early  ideas,  he  tells  us,  in 
1771,  that  "  the  English  government  is  a  mixture  of  regal, 
aristocratic  and  democratical  power,  and  if  the  public  edu- 
cation should  be  more  favorable  to  any  one  of  these  than 
to  another  .  .  .  the  balance  of  the  whole  would  neces- 
sarily be  lost.'  ^  This  old  theory  of  the  separation  of 
powers  and  of  the  three-fold  division  of  the  state  preserv- 
ing liberty  by  a  balance  of  authority,  Priestley  held  early  in 

^  Laprade,  England  and  the  French  Revolution,  devotes  three  pages 
to  Price,  while  dismissing  Paine  with  a  curt  mention. 

2  Joseph  Prisetley,  An  essay  on  the  first  principles  of  Government, 
p.  106.  A  copy  of  this  book,  given  by  the  author  to  John  Wilkes,  is  in- 
the  possession  of   Columbia  University. 


6i]  PAMPHLET  SKIRMISHING  6l 

his  career.  He  believed  in  it  also  throughout  a  long  life. 
In  a  volume  appearing  in  1788,  and  reissued  in  1793,  in 
speaking  of  the  benefits  enjoyed  by  limited  monarchical 
governments,  he  says :  "  These  governments,  consisting  of 
so  many  parts,  each  of  which  has  a  negative  on  all  resolu- 
tions of  consequence,  are  a  check  and  balance  on  one  an- 
other." ^ 

This  was  Priestley's  idea  of  politics.  His  chief  interest, 
however,  did  not  lie  in  social  and  political  affairs.  It  was 
said  that  he  never  preached  a  sermon  devoted  to  politics; 
he  cared  little  for  society  and  never  attended  a  public 
meeting  if  he  could  help  it.^  One  might  even  hold  that  his 
name  would  hardly  have  been  associated  with  the  history 
of  radicalism  had  not  his  house  been  wrecked  by  a  mob. 

The  riot  in  which  this  occurred  created  vast  excitement: 
Its  cause  was  a  celebration  held  in  honor  of  the  second 
anniversary  of  the  fall  of  the  Bastille.  A  public  dinner  was 
given,  eminently  respectable  in  tone ;  a  churchman  presided, 
and  the  toasts  save  in  one  instance  were  mild.  During  the 
course  of  the  dinner,  however,  a  rabble  gathered  outside 
the  tavern.  Encouraged  by  the  tacit  approval  of  some 
magistrates  present,  and  proceeding  in  accord  with  true 
mob  psychology,  it  took  the  short  step  from  overflow  of 
invective  to  destruction  of  property.  Priestley's  house, 
with  the  costly  scientific  apparatus  which  it  contained,  was 
destroyed.  The  Non-conformist  chapels  were  attacked,  and 
to  quell  the  riot  troops  were  quartered  in  Birmingham. 
The  disturbance  was  to  some  extent  a  preliminary  gust  of 
the  revolutionary  storm.  More  largely  was  it  due  to 
Priestley's  personal  enemies,  negligence  on  the  part  of  the 
government,  and  hatred  of  the  Dissenters.^    One  result  was 

1  Priestley,  Lectures  on  history  and  general  policy,  p.  355. 

2  Thorpe,  Joseph  Priestley,  p.  I53- 

3  Yates,  Memorials  of  Dr.  Priestley,  passim;  Laprade.  England  and 
the  French  Revolution,  pp.  43-52. 


62  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [62 

to  drive  the  poor  preacher  into  an  unprofitable  contro- 
versy with  Burke,  and  to  shed  upon  him  an  unwelcome 
limelight.  Another  was  that  Priestley,  disgusted  with  con- 
ditions in  England,  emigrated  to  America.^ 

A  more  humorous  and  delightful  representative  of  old- 
time  radicalism  was  John  Home  Tooke.  Tooke,  like 
Priestley,  had  been  swept  into  the  radical  current  by  ad- 
ventitious circumstances  and  against  his  will.  In  1794 
Tooke  was  tried  for  high  treason — why,  it  is  difficult  to 
say.  There  was  no  evidence  against  him;  still  the  gov- 
ernment selected  him  as  an  object  of  attack.  An  example 
evidently  was  to  be  made  of  a  rash  gentleman,  and  Tooke 
was  tried  for  high  treason.  He  was  triumphantly  vindi- 
cated. Nevertheless,  a  hue  and  cry  had  been  raised,  and 
Tooke,  willing  or  otherwise,  from  this  time  on  was  eyed 
askance  as  an  evil  radical. 

Tooke's  major  activities,  like  those  of  Price  and  Priestley, 
belonged  to  earlier  days.  His  life  and  training  were  those 
of  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school.  His  parentage,  to  be 
sure,  was  humble, — a  circumstance  Tooke  skilfully  con- 
cealed.^ He  was  a  scholar,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England, — facts  he  never  allowed  himself  to  forget. 

His  exciting  early  career  concerns  us  but  little.  A  party 
to  the  confused  entanglements  of  the  Junius  controversy 
and  the  Wilkes  affair,^  Tooke  soon  abandoned  the  lure  of 
theology  for  the  excitement  of  public  life.  Resigning  his 
living  he  became  a  lawyer.  For  parliamentary  reform  h^ 
fought  courageously;  in  the  crusade  against  rotten  bor- 
oughs he  was  a  leader;  not  for  the  purpose,  be  it  noted,  of 

1  Thorpe,  Priestley,  p.  155. 

2  Stevens,  Memoirs  of  John  Home  Tooke,  i,  21. 

^  For    an    ingenious    proof    that    Tooke   was    none    other    than    the 
mysterious  Junius,  see  Graham,  Memoirs  of  John  Home  Tooke. 


63]  PAMPHLET  SKIRMISHING  63 

introducing  innovations,  but  rather  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  old  rights  and  privileges  of  Englishmen.  The  sub- 
stance of  his  political  philosophy  may  readily  be  deduced 
from  his  speeches  in  the  Westminster  election  of  1796. 
He  then  declared :  "  The  voters  are  tied  to  a  tree  of  cor- 
ruption, and  in  this  country  its  height  and  weight  and  bulk 
are  enormous."  The  tree  is  shaken,  and  a  united  effort 
will  pull  it  over.  And  again  he  assures  them  "  that  all 
constitutional  and  necessary  check  is  taken  away  from  the 
courts  of  justice."  "  The  voters  might  perceive  it  by  sen- 
tences passed  contrary  to  legal  precedent,  fit  only  for  the 
devils  in  hell  to  pronounce."  ^  This  check  on  the  courts 
should  be  restored.  For  to  Tooke,  as  to  Priestley  and  Price, 
checks  and  balances  were  the  desiderata  of  politics. 

The  ex-clergyman,  however,  incurred  the  especial  dis- 
pleasure of  the  government.  Because  Tooke  hated  both 
Toryism  and  Whiggism  -  they  could  not  conceive  of  him 
otherwise  than  as  a  dangerous  man.  An  action  was 
brought  against  him,  and  the  result  was  the  famous 
Tooke  trial,  the  verbatim  report  of  which  affords  amus- 
ing reading.  Home  Tooke  conducted  the  greater  part  of 
his  own  defence.  Angered  as  he  was  by  the  attitude  of  the 
judge  and  prosecuting  attorney,  and  sure  of  his  evidence, 
he  took  a  huge  delight  in  bantering  his  opponents.  Even 
toward  the  judge  he  exhibited  a  marked  playfulness  of 
manner.  Indeed,  with  an  untroubled  heart  he  must  have 
answered  both  thrust  and  parry,  for  the  evidence  of  his 
own  innate  conservatism,  his  dislike  of  Paine,  and  his  con- 
tempt for  universal  suffrage  was  overwhelming.^ 

1  Speeches  of  John  Home  Tooke  during  the  Westminster  Election,  p.  7- 

2  Stephens,  Memorial  of  Tooke,  i,  438. 

sTooke's  dislike  of  Paine:  Evidence  in  the  State  Trials,  xxv, 
112.  Tooke  throws  a  letter  to  Paine  unopened  into  the  fire,  ihid., 
p.  248.     Tooke  opposes  the  sending  of  delegates  to  Edinburgh  for  the 


64  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [64 

After  his  release  from  prison  Tooke  made  an  unsuccess- 
ful canvass  for  Parliament.  He  tried  once  more  and  was 
elected  but  as  an  ex-clergyman,  he  was  declared  ineligible. 
Abandoning  public  life  he  became  more  and  more  interested 
in  literary  subjects,  in  his  garden,  and  in  giving  dinner 
parties  at  Wimbledon,  his  country  estate.  At  the  end  of  the 
century  we  discover  him  a  carefully-dressed  old  person,  with 
silk  stockings,  long  wrist  ruffles  and  powdered  hair.^  And 
his  opinions  befitted  his  appearance.  In  his  last  address 
to  his  friends  at  Westminster  in  1804,  he  assures  them  that 
so  long  as  he  lives  he  will  maintain  a  steadfast  adherence 
to  the  ancient  freedom  of  his  country,  as  it  has  been  prac- 
tically enjoyed  under  those  honest  old  gentlemen,  George  I 
and  George  11.^ 

John  Cartwright,  or,  as  he  was  generally  known.  Major 
Cartwright,  can  hardly  with  propriety  be  omitted  from  our 
discussion  of  the  British  reformers.  In  a  way  Cartwright 
represented  both  the  older  and  the  younger  school  of  radi- 
cal thought,  for  his  eighty  odd  tracts  are  scattered  through- 
out the  period  covered  by  both.  Cartwright  believed  stead- 
fastly in  universal  suffrage,  which  was  in  no  great  favor 
with  the  older  men,  yet  at  the  same  time  socially  he  be- 
longed to  their  group.  Throughout  his  career  he  was  the 
country  gentleman  in  politics.  He  carried  his  Majesty's 
commission  in  the  militia  ^  and  had  been  a  naval  officer. 

Radical  Convention,  ibid.,  p.  87.  Tooke  opposes  Universal  Suffrage, 
ibid.,  p.  93.  Tooke  accused  by  the  Radicals  of  making  an  aristocratic 
speech,  ihid.,  p.  253.  Sheridan,  Philip  Francis  and  Bishop  of  Glou- 
cester all  testify  at  this  trial  in  favor  of  the  prisoner.  Stephens, 
Memorial,  ii,  346. 

1  Stephens,  op.  cit.,  ii,  234. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  263. 

•'  The  attendance  upon  radical  meetings  kept  Cartw^right  from  pro- 
motion in  the  militia.  "A  Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,"  by  John 
Cartwright,  p.  51. 


65]  PAMPHLET  SKIRMISHING  6^ 

Furthermore,  his  reforming  ideas  were  more  theoretical 
than  practical.  They  all  looked  backward  to  a  so-called 
day  of  English  freedom.  "  I  ought  to  have  a  vote  because 
I  am  a  man,"  and  because  my  ancestors  had  it,  argued  Cart- 
wright,  and  upon  that  philosophical  foundation  the  greater 
part  of  his  public  life  was  laid.  He  regarded  suffrage  as 
a  fetich  which  would  cure  all  evils,  and  this  belief  he 
stated  in  season  and  out  of  season  for  fifty  years. 

So  stupidly  and  awkwardly  written  were  these  appeals 
of  the  Major  that  no  one  regarded  him  very  seriously.^ 
He  was  said  to  be  free  from  any  Machiavellian  touch.  One 
may  well  believe  it,  for  even  the  best-known  of  his  eighty 
odd  tracts  are  intolerably  dull  and  prosy.  But  everybody 
liked  Major  Cartwright.  He  was  not  altogether  an  ex- 
tremist. He  disapproved  of  Paine,^  as  his  friends  were 
always  glad  to  repeat,  and  in  the  meantime  the  goodness 
of  heart  and  sincerity  of  spirit  of  Major  Cartwright 
atoned  for  many  aberrations. 

Certain  pamphleteers  deserve  less  consideration  than  that 
afforded  to  the  older  radicals.  Briefly  may  we  dismiss 
those  partisans  of  the  pen  whose  writings  are  in  character 
low  and  scurrilous,  exulting  in  rhodomontade  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  thought  and  reason.  Pamphlets  of  this  nature, 
all  too  many,  unfortunately,  poured  forth  in  equal  volume 
from  both  Tory  and  radical  camps.  Let  one  author  suffice 
for  a  Tory  warrior  of  this  sort — William  Cobbett,  writing 
under  the  pseudonym  of  Peter  Porcupine.^ 

^  Kent,  A  Historical  Sketch  of  Radicalism,  p.  70. 

'  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Major  John  Cartwright,  edited  by  his 
niece,  F.  D.  Cartwright,  p.  192. 

3  Cobbett,  the  famous  English  radical,  imbued  with  patriotic  fervor 
in  his  early  days,  wrote  during  the  period  of  the  French  revolution 
as  the  most  irreconcilable  of  Tories.  E.  D.  Smith,  Life  of  Cob- 
bett, p.  107. 


66  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [66 

The  pamphlets  of  Peter  Porcupine,  it  so  happened,  were 
written  and  printed  in  Philadelphia,  but  their  chief  influ- 
ence was  in  England.  Indeed,  so  popular  were  they  there, 
that  the  Philadelphia  imprint  was  generally  believed  to 
have  been  adopted  for  purposes  of  concealment.  His 
first  pamphlet,  "  A  Bone  to  Gnaw  for  the  Democrats," 
was  immediately  reviewed  and  answered  by  the  deli- 
cately worded  reply,  "  A  Kick  for  a  Bite."  "  The  Kick," 
as  might  be  expected,  brought  back  retaliation  from  Por- 
cupine, and  a  flood  of  abuse  followed  after.  "  Hireling," 
"  Pork  Patriot,"  "  Mr.  Hedgehog "  and  other  edifying 
epithets  were  freely  bandied  about, ^  and  Porcupine  forth- 
with became  well  known  as  a  defender  of  church  and  king.^ 

''  The  Bone  to  Gnaw  "  is,  indeed,  too  indecent  for  ex- 
tended quotation.  France,  described  as  a  low  woman  of 
the  town,  is  represented  as  making  love  to  John  Bull. 
"  No,"  says  John,  "  you  heathenish  cannibal ;  you  reek 
with  blood.  Get  from  my  sight,  you  stabbing  strumpet 
.  .  .  She  is  a  cruel  spouse,  John,  something  like  the  brazen 
image  formerly  made  use  of  in  Hungary  for  cracking  the 
bones  and  squeezing  out  the  blood  and  guts  of  those  con- 
demned to  its  embrace."  ^  Of  such  stuff  was  composed  the 
"  Bone  to  Gnaw  " ;  nevertheless  we  find  it  highly  praised  in 
England.  J.  R.  Greene,  a  Tory  magistrate  and  editor  of  the 
Anti-Jacohin,  wrote  a  preface  for  the  work  and,  in  his 
first  issue  of  the  Anti-Jacohin  Reviezv,  gave  a  criticism  of 
Cobbett's   pamphlet   the   place   of   honor.      Herriott,    edi- 

^  Smith,  Cohbett,  op.  cit.,  p.  135. 

*  Cobbett  tells  us  that  when  he  opened  his  shop  "  I  put  in  my  win- 
dows, which  were  very  large,  all  the  portraits  that  I  had  in  my  pos- 
session of  Kings,  Queens,  Princes  and  Nobles.  I  had  the  English 
Ministry,  several  of  the  Bishops  and  Judges,  the  most  famous  Ad- 
mirals, and  in  fact  every  picture  that  I  thought  likely  to  excite 
rage  in  the  enemies  of  Great  Britain."     Ibid.,  p.  162. 

*  Bone  to  Gnaw,  p.  60. 


e^]  PAMPHLET  SKIRMISHING  67 

tor  of  The  True  Briton,  Pitt's  subsidized  paper,^  recom- 
mended Peter  Porcupine,  whose  coarseness  even  the  clergy 
condoned.^  In  fact,  Peter  Porcupine  was  approved  by 
the  highest  authorities  in  England,  for  we  learn  that 
when  Cobbett  returned  to  England  in  1798,  he  was  dined 
by  Windham  and  presented  to  Pitt  and  many  other  not- 
ables.^ 

Indecent  fulminations  were  not  the  exclusive  property  of 
the  conservatives;  several  periodical  publications  of  the 
radical  party  showed  a  similar  tendency.  One  of  them, 
taking  title  from  Burke's  phrase  "  the  swinish  multitude," 
was  styled  "  Pig's  Meat."  *  Another,  which  received  the 
appellation  "  Hog's  Wash,"  was  edited  by  a  certain  Daniel 
Isaac  Eaton.  This  Eaton  was  tried  by  the  government  for 
seditious  libel  in  attacking  the  king  by  open  innuendoes, 
and  although  he  was  acquitted,^  no  more  copies  of  "  Hog's 
Wash  "  were  printed;  and,  indeed,  it  may  fairly  be  assumed 
that  the  coarser  qualities  of  the  publication  did  not  meet 
altogether  with  popular  approval,  for  in  the  thirteen  num- 
bers issued  before  the  trial  an  evident  purification  of  tone 
was  in  progress.'' 

^  Laprade,  England  and  the  French  Revolution,  p.  77. 

"  The  Rev.  William  Beloe  is  quoted  as  saying :  "  That  the  writer 
is  occasionally  a  little  coarse  in  his  style  and  expression  cannot  be 
denied,  but  perhaps  he  could  not  attain  more  refinement  except  r.t  the 
expense  of  some  strength."  Smith,  Cobbett,  p.  238.  The  British  Critic 
also  eulogizes  Cobbett  repeatedly.  .It  calls  him  "our  good  ally" 
(British  Critic  for  1797,  page  xii,  Introduction),  and  recommends 
highly  The  Bloody  Buoy,  ibid.,  p.  201.  A  special  diatribe  by  Cobbett 
against  Priestley.  A  twig  birch  for  butting  calf,  also  meets  with  ap- 
proval. 

'  Smith,  Cobbett,  p.  251. 

4  The  editor  of  "  Pig's  Meat"  was  Spence,  the  land  nationalizer.  Cf. 
infra,  pp.  108  et  seq. 

^  State  Trials,  xxiii,  1013. 

•  The  first  five  numbers  are  entitled  simple  Hog's  Wash.     The  sixth 


68  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [68 

Nevertheless,  this  weekly,  even  in  its  semi-cleansed  con- 
dition, is  quite  comparable  with  the  work  of  Peter  Porcu- 
pine. By  verse  and  by  fable  Eaton  sought  to  supply 
popular  matter  for  his  magazine.  In  "  The  Land  of 
Apes,"  the  conditions  of  England  are  foully  depicted.^ 
Other  little  stories  have  matched  crudity  only  by  obscenity. 
"  The  Story  of  the  Honest  Cobbler,"  ^  is  an  illustration  in 
point,  as  is  also  a  bit  of  humor  dubbed  "  Aristocratic  In- 
solence and  Democratic  Bluntness."  ^  In  an  article  on  the 
origin  of  nobility  we  are  told  that  princes  and  potentates 
are  descended  from  "  cruel  butchers  of  men :  oppressors, 
tyrants,  perfidious  truce-breakers,  robbers  and  parasites,"  * 
and  so  on,  in  an  endless  flood  of  vituperation.  Of  such  lan- 
guage one  speedily  sickens,  and  turns  with  relief  to  other 
types  of  discussion. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  decent  literature  may  be  elimi- 
nated with  as  little  attention  as  is  warranted  by  the  scur- 
rilous publications.  Thus  the  bulk  of  the  religious  writ- 
ings may  be  dismissed,  for  most  ecclesiastics  held  the 
anti-slavery  cause  to  be  of  far  more  consequence  than 
domestic  reform.  By  the  Rev.  John  Akin  we  are  told 
that  Britains  are  "  personally  free,  politically  free  and  com- 
mercially free;"^  therefore  they  should  devote  their  en- 
ergies toward  conferring  these  benefits  on  the  poor  slaves 
and  benighted  heathen.     Other  clergymen,  the  majority  of 

number  is  called  Hog's  IVash^  or  Politics  for  the  People.  The 
seventh  and  eighth  numbers,  Politics  for  the  people,  or  Hog's  Wash, 
whereas  the  last  numbers  are  known  simply  as  Politics  for  the  People. 

*  Hog's  Wash,  or  Politics  of  the  People,  no.  6. 

*  Hog's  Wash,  no.  2. 

'  Politics  for  the  People,  or  Hog's  Wash,  no.  7. 

*  Hog's  Wash,  no.  3. 

^  John  Akin,  Food  for  National  Penitence,  a  discourse  intended  for 
the  approaching  fast  day. 


69]  PAMPHLET  SKIRMISHING  69 

the  Anglican  and  perhaps  also  of  the  Non-conform- 
ist, were  frankly  Tory.  No  uncertainty  marks  the  utter- 
ances of  these  divines.  Their  exhortations  ring  out  loud 
and  clear.  But  we  will  not  linger  over  them.  When  we 
are  told  that  the  radical  writers  are  "  quacks,  who,  under 
the  specious  appearance  of  philosophy  and  reason,  would 
administer  their  empiric  remedies,  and  purge  away  the 
health  of  the  country;"  when  we  are  assured  that  "we 
will  not  deprive  the  British  lion  of  his  teeth  and  fangs  and 
leave  him  the  laughing-stock  of  every  puny  beast  of  the 
forest;"  and,  after  we  are  informed  finally  that  there  is  no 
persuasion  more  favorable  to  the  British  constitution  than 
the  Established  Church,^  there  is  little  more  for  us  to  know. 
Samuel  Horsley,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  delighted  to  use 
similar  language,^  while  many  of  the  Scottish  clergy  in 
equally  felicitous  terms  made  clear  the  conservatism  of 
their  attitude.  Celebrations  of  the  martrydom  of  Charles  T 
became  more  and  more  frequent.  Upon  that  sacred  day 
the  evils  of  the  French  revolution  were  a  common  topic  for 
sermons.  Texts  of  all  kinds  were  put  into  requisition,  one 
divine  selecting  "  By  that  time  he  stinketh."  ^ 

The  leading  dissenting  clergymen  after  1791  deserted 
the  radical  cause,  if  they  can  be  said  ever  to  have  belonged 

"^  An  important  defense  of  the  Established  Church.  The  writer  tells 
us  that  he  believes  in  keeping  peace  with  all  men,  "  but  when  we  per- 
ceive the  ray  darting  from  the  deadly  scales  of  the  hidden  serpent, 
it  is  our  duty  to  drag  the  monster  to  the  light,  and  to  display  him  in 
his  naked  deformity." 

2  Before  the  House  of  Lords  in  an  anniversary  sermon,  Morning 
Chronicle,  Feb.  16,  1793.  His  speeches,  however,  were  generally  more 
temperate,  as,  for  instance  on  the  third  reading  of  the  Treason  Bill. 
Horsley,  Speeches,  p.  167. 

3  Laprade,  England  and  the  French  Revolution,  p.  154.  Andrew 
Bunaby,  WiUiam  Gilbank,  John  Scott  and  others  are  enumerated  by 
Laprade,  pp.  154-155,  while  in  Edinburgh  the  printed  sermons  of 
George  Hill  and  Thomas  Somerville  are  quite  similar  in  kind. 


70  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [70 

to  it/  Their  activities  were  more  engrossed  with  the 
fourxding  of  missionary  societies  than  in  seeking  the  repeal 
of  the  Test  Act.  The  suspicious  government  was  soon  to 
learn  that  their  designs  were  remote  from  concerns  terres- 
trial.^ A  few  dissenting  clergymen  continued  to  hold  radi- 
cal opinions ;  ^  others  boldly  insisted  that  they  were  faithful 
defenders  of  the  existing  order;  while  a  majority  preached 
apologetic  sermons.  "The  crystallized  thought  of  God"  is. 
to  be  sure,  demonstrated  quite  clearly  by  many  of  the  clergy, 
and  the  ways  of  His  providence  are  pointed  out  to  us  with 
naive  freedom,*  and  so  also  is  the  path  along  which  society 
shall  travel.  All  of  these  ideas  found  a  considerable  circu- 
lation, and  from  an  antiquarian  point  of  view  are  of  inter- 
est ;  ^  but  their  tangled  phraseology  and  cloudy  mysticism 
render  them  for  our  purposes  quite  unpractical.  In  brief, 
then,  it  is  not  unfair  to  conclude  that  from  the  dissenting 
clergy  the  cause  of  radicalism  received  but  trifling  support, 
and  from  the  Established  Church  less. 

Little  attention,  either,  need  be  paid  to  a  large  number 
of  anonymous  tracts.     These  are  generally  humorous  or 

1  This,  of  course,  does  not  apply  to  Priestley  or  Price  whose  work 
was  over  by  1792. 

2  Bogue  and  Bennett,  A  History  of  the  Dissenters,  iv,  206;  Stoughton, 
Religion  in  England  under  Queen  Anne  and  the  Georges,  pp.  293, 
336,  348. 

'  Mark  Wilkes,  The  Origin  and  Stability  of  the  French  Revolution, 
sermon  preached  in  St.  Paul's  chapel,  Norwich. 

*  James  Hinton,  Vindication  of  the    Dissenters. 

5  John  Bicheno  in  The  Signs  of  the  Times  demonstrates  from  Daniel 
and  the  Book  of  Revelations,  that  1789  was  the  turning  point  in 
Christian  history.  From  that  date  he  tells  us  it  will  take  thirty  years 
to  root  out  Popery  and  to  prepare  mankind  for  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  Forty-five  additional  years  would  find  the  Jews  converted  and 
Christianity  extended  to  the  uttermost  confines  of  the  earth.  Every- 
thing then  being  in  readiness  for  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  the 
world  would  end  in  1862. 


71  ]  PAMPHLET  SKIRMISHING  7 1 

satirical  and  at  times  their  meaning  is  veiled  in  allegory. 
Frequently  it  is  explained  by  fictitious  dialogue.  Rarely 
interesting,  frequently  stupid,  as  indicative  of  public  opin- 
ion, they  have  but  little  value.  The  story  of  the  visit  of 
Brissot's  ghost  to  a  radical  meeting  is  typical.^  The  ghost 
tells  the  members  of  the  society  that  they  already  have 
"  equitable  laws  [and]  an  amiable  king  under  whose  mild 
government  every  class  of  subjects  enjoy  liberty  and  equal- 
ity in  the  highest  degree."  The  ghost  then,  by  the  well- 
worn  analogy  of  the  human  family,  points  out  that,  inas- 
much as  children  have  no  voice  in  family  government,  so 
indeed  the  lower  classes  should  not  expect  to  share  in  the 
government  of  the  nation.  A  few  words  about  France 
follow  in  warning.  He  then  vanishes,  and  the  radicals 
depart,  no  longer  believing  in  their  foolish  whims. 

Dialogues  and  letters  are  numerous.  Here  we  are  intro- 
duced to  a  dialogue  where  the  fears  of  a  conservative  are 
allayed;  there  we  find  a  series  of  letters  purporting  to  be 
written  by  Brother  Bull  to  Brother  Jonathan.  These  may 
be  classed  in  the  same  category.^  Several  tracts  written 
by  Old  Hubert  are  equally  representative.  Old  Hubert 
describes  the  strange  country  of  Bull  Land,  where  the 
king  may  be  an  idiot,  the  priests  lazy  and  inefficient,  the 
laws  complicated  and  unjust,  and  all  social  conditions  in- 

'  Brissofs  Ghost,  or  Intelligence  from  the  Other  World.  A  large 
catalogue  of  this  type  of  pamphlet  might  be  made.  Thoughts  on  a 
late  Riot  in  Birmingham;  The  Flower  of  the  lacohins;  The  Patriot; 
An  Address  from  a  Poor  Man  to  his  Equals  will  serve  as  illustra- 
tions. The  last  mentioned  tract  contains  a  spirited  dialogue  between 
a  workman  and  Mr.  MacSerpent.  "  The  Reeves  Manuscripts "  in  the 
British  Museum  contain  an  enormous  number  of  Tory  manuscripts  of 
this  kind. 

2  One  pennyworth's  of  truth  for  a  penny,  also  One  pennyworth's 
more  of  truth  for  a  penny.  Like  pamphlets  are  The  present  state  of 
the  British  constitution  deduced  from  the  facts,  and  Comments  on 
proposed  war  with  France. 


-jT.  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [72 

iquitous.  One  Tory  writer  cuts  to  the  heart  of  the  ques- 
tion when  he  insists  that  at  bottom  the  point  at  issue  is  one 
of  property.  So  likewise  does  an  unknown  radical  who  as- 
serts that  "  a  poor  man,  whose  enthusiasm  is  a  good  deal 
subdued  by  hard  labor,  by  cold  domicile,  by  scanty  wages, 
by  a  press  of  taxation,  and  by  the  necessary  care  of  a  fam- 
ily," is  not  aroused  by  the  idea  of  a  patriotic  war.^  Such, 
however,  are  exceptions.  In  the  main  but  little  reasoning 
power  is  exhibited  by  these  effusions  of  the  anonymous  pen. 
Finally  we  shall  put  to  one  side  writings  of  yet  another 
kind.  There  were  men  whose  influence,  for  one  reason 
or  another,  was  no  true  measure  of  their  ability.  There 
were  also  many  who,  because  they  endeavored  in  the  nar- 
row compass  of  a  pamphlet  to  compress  too  many  com- 
plaints and  too  many  remedies,  deserve  but  transitory 
notice  in  a  resume  of  radical  theory.  William  Hodgson  and 
George  Dyer  were  men  of  this  stamp.  The  former,  a  well- 
known  botanist  and  physician,  became  a  warm  adherent 
of  the  more  radical  tenets  of  the  French  doctrinnaires. 
These  opinions  made  trouble  for  Hodgson.  In  a  tavern 
brawl,  he  called  the  king  a  German  hog  butcher."  Placed  in 
jail  for  this  offence,  Hodgson  planned  his  book,  "  The 
Commonwealth."  This  production,  an  eighteenth  century 
Utopia,  is  somewhat  crassly  and  feebly  executed.  The  ar- 
tillery of  Hodgson  is  mainly  directed  against  religion.  Men 
never  agree  upon  religion,  he  says,  and  inasmuch  as  there 
are  some  two-hundred-odd  different  creeds,  which  he  enum- 
erates, it  is  folly  to  believe  that  one  is  more  pleasing  to  God 
than  another.  Furthermore,  popes,  muftis,  druids,  domi- 
nies and  other  divines  exercise  an  authority  which  is  bad. 
Hodgson  would  do  away  with  it.  "  The  Commonwealth  " 
also  advocates  civil  marriages,  easy  divorces,  national  work- 

^  The  Crisis  stated,  1793. 
*  The  World,  Dec.  10,  1793. 


73]  PAMPHLET  SKIRMISHING  73 

shops,  old-age  pensions,  improved  public  schools,  and  the 
abolition  of  capital  punishment.  There  is  to  be  but  one  tax 
— a  tax  on  land  of  four  pence  per  acre.  That  tax  will  more 
than  provide  for  the  expenses  of  clerk  hire  sufficient  to  run 
the  government.  There  will  be  a  favorable  balance  which 
will  make  possible  the  remission  of  taxes  altogether  every 
fourth  year.  On  such  a  year,  he  says,  "  I  will  provide  that 
they  celebrate  a  feast  of  economy."  ^ 

The  ideas  of  George  Dyer  were  less  chimerical.  Dyer 
was  a  Christ  Hospital  boy,  and  a  graduate  of  Cambridge. 
Unitarian  opinions  prevented  his  advancement  in  the 
Church  and  Dyer  became  a  literary  free  lance  of  a  some- 
what eccentric  type,  and,  although  well  known  and  much 
liked  by  many  literary  celebrities,^  he  remained  always  on 
the  borderland  of  real  literary  attainment.  In  1793  Dyer 
published  "  The  Complaints  of  the  Poor  People  of  Eng- 
land." The  humanitarian  sympathies  of  the  man  may 
be  seen  in  his  treatment  of  this  subject.  "  But  God  never 
said,"  wrote  Dyer  apropos  of  the  game  laws,  that  "  the 
squire  may  shoot  the  partridge  or  the  pheasant,  though 
tile  laborer  shall  not;  or  that  Sir  Robert  may  draw  a 
fish  out  of  the  river,  and  that  his  poor  tenants  be  im- 
prisoned for  the  same  offense."  The  army  and  navy, 
he  thought,  were  overtaxed  with  officers.  The  army  was 
too  aristocratic,  and  aped  the  Prussian  system.  He  men- 
tioned an  offender  who  was  lashed  four  and  twenty-five 
times,  and  quoted  the  reply  of  a  non-commissioned 
officer  who,  invited  to  serve  as  an  officer  of  the  Prussian 

1  Hodgson,  Commonwealth,  p.  103.  Aside  from  the  "Commonwealth," 
Hodgson  wrote  The  System  of  Nature,  and  Proposals  for  Publishing 
by  Subscription,  a  treatise  called  The  Female  Citizen,  or  a  historical 
inquiry  into  the  rights  of  women,  various  scientific  works,  a  Life  of 
Napoleon;  and  other  miscellanies  emanated  from  his  pea 

*  Charles  Lamb  said  of  Dyer  that  "  for  integrity  and  single  hearted- 
ness  he  might  be  ranked  among  the  best  patterns  of  his  species." 


74  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [74 

army,  said,  "  I  would  rather  be  in  hell  eight  years  than  in 
the  service  of  Prussia."  There  is  red  tape  to  be  found 
everywhere.  Special  privilege  controls  the  hospitals.  The 
public  schools  are  far  from  democratic,  and  the  existence 
of  flogging  in  them  is  most  brutal.  So  also  is  capital  pun- 
ishment; and  as  for  the  criminal  and  civil  code,  it  is  quite 
impossible.^  Not  very  logical  or  closely  reasoned  is  this 
outburst  of  Dyer's.^  But,  filled  as  it  is  with  the  spirit  of 
aroused  democracy,  it  is  worthy  of  remembrance. 

1  Dyer,  The  Complaints  of  the  Poor  People  of  England,  passim. 

"  The  worst  that  the  Tory  Critical  Review  could  say  of  this  book 
was  "  The  complaints  of  the  poor  is  a  plausible,  and  in  some  degree, 
popular  term,  but  it  is  a  great  pity  that  there  should  be  individuals 
so  officiously  acute  in  finding  out  the  inconvenience  and  suffering 
of  those  who  are  not  immediately  susceptible  of  their  oppression,  or 
even  of  its  existence."    The  Critical  Review,  1793,  p.  333- 


CHAPTER  III 
The  Radical  Creed 

the  rights  of  man  and  the  rights  of  woman 
wollstonecraft  and  paine 
mackintosh  and  bentham 

First  in  the  field  to  reply  to  Burke  was  a  woman. 
Burke's  "  Reflections"  were  published  in  November,  1790. 
Ere  the  year  closed  his  book  was  refuted.  Before  the 
smooth-flowing  Vindiciae  GalUcae  of  Mackintosh  and  the 
pretence-stripping  pamphlets  of  the  "  vulgar  "  Paine  had 
gone  to  press,  there  came  with  swiftness  and  penetration  a 
woman's  defence  of  all  mankind.  Mary  Wollstonecraft's 
"  Vindication  of  the  Rights  of  Man,"  opened  the  radical 
campaign — a  campaign  which  sooner  or  later  drew  into  the 
melee  the  keenest  intellects  of  England.  To  the  "  Reflec 
tions  "of  Edmund  Burke  no  fewer  than  thirty-eight  re- 
plies were  forthcoming.  Mary  Wollstonecraft's,  first  in 
priority  of  time,  has,  in  thought  if  not  in  diction,  no  su- 
perior. 

There  is  little  hesitancy  in  her  attack  on  Burke.  "  I  per- 
ceive," she  writes,  "  from  the  whole  tenor  of  your  *  Reflec- 
tions,' that  you  have  a  mortal  antipathy  to  reason,  but  if 
there  is  anything  like  argument  or  first  principles  in  your 
wild  declamation,  behold  the  result — that  we  are  to  rever- 
ence the  rust  of  antiquity,  and  those  unnatural  customs 
which  ignorance  and  self-interest  have  consolidated  into 
the  sage  fruit  of  experience."  Progress  is  retarded  by  the 
worship  of  the  mouldy  past.  The  eighteenth  century 
75]  75 


76  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [76 

ought  to  admit  "  that  our  canonized  forefathers  were  un- 
able or  afraid  to  revert  to  reason  without  resting  on  the 
crutch  of  authority."  Wollstonecraft  would  throw  away 
that  crutch.  "  Let  us  reason  together,"  she  argues,  and 
look  upon  the  world  around  us  as  it  is.  It  is  true  that 
the  world  is  far  from  lovely  or  ideal,  but  candor  and  sin- 
cerity demand  that  we  know  it  honestly  as  it  is.  Purity  of 
morals  is  destroyed  "  by  smearing  sentimental  varnish  over 
vice  to  hide  its  natural  deformity." 

The  school  mistress  had  no  respect  for  the  immaculate 
constitution  of  England.  It  guarantees  property,  no  doubt, 
but  at  the  same  time  "  the  liberty  of  an  honest  mechanic 
is  often  sacrificed  to  secure  the  property  of  the  rich." 
Why  should  the  life  of  a  deer  be  more  prized  than  the  life 
of  a  man?  Why,  under  our  excellent  constitution,  should 
men  be  kidnapped  for  service  in  the  navy?  "  Why  cannot 
large  estates  be  divided  into  small  farms?  Why  does  the 
brown  waste  meet  the  traveller's  view  when  men  want 
work?" 

And  as  for  the  much-praised  House  of  Commons,  what 
could  be  more  farcical  than  British  elections?  The  mem- 
bers of  the  House  are  but  puppets.  "  After  the  efferves- 
cence of  spirit  raised  by  the  opposition  and  all  the  little 
tyrannical  acts  of  canvassing  are  over — quiet  souls ! — they 
only  intend  to  march  rank  and  file  to  say  yes  or  no." 
"  You  were  (she  says  to  Burke)  behind  the  curtain.  You 
must  have  seen  the  clogged  wheels  of  corruption  continu- 
ally oiled,  and  the  sweat  of  the  laboring  poor  squeezed  out 
of  them  by  increasing  taxation.  You  must  have  discovered 
that  the  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons  were  openly 
purchased  by  the  crown,  and  that  the  people  were  oppressed 
by  the  influence  of  their  own  money.  .  .  .  You  must  have 
known  that  a  man  of  talent  cannot  rise  in  the  church,  the 
army  or  navy,  unless  he  has  some  interest  in  a  borough." 


yy]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  77 

Yet  you  talk  of  virtue  and  of  liberty,  and  deride  the  French 
national  assembly.  What  right  have  you  to  do  that?  If 
"  unlettered  clowns  "  may  bring  about  "  a  crisis  that  may 
involve  the  fate  of  Europe,  and  more  than  Europe,"  you 
must  allow  us  to  respect  unsophisticated  common-sense, 
but  at  any  rate  why  praise  the  British  Plouse  of  Commons, 
that  "  dead  weight  of  benurrfbing  opulence  where  the  sheep 
obsequiously  pursue  their  steps  with  all  the  undeviating 
sagacity  of  instinct."  ^ 

Objection  is  made  also  to  Burke's  fulsome  laudation  of 
the  Church  of  England.  "  It  is  a  well-known  fact,"  af- 
firms Wollstonecraft,  "  that  when  we  the  people  of  Eng- 
land have  a  son  whom  we  scarcely  know  what  to  do  with — 
we  make  a  clergyman  of  him."  "  The  intelligence  of  the 
clergy  is  in  consequence  low,  and  so  also  is  their  regard 
for  the  sacredness  of  their  calling.  Of  course  there  are 
individual  exceptions,  but  a  majority  of  them  "  perform 
the  duty  of  their  professions  as  a  kind  of  fee  simple,"  and 
as  for  Burke's  claim  that  the  education  of  the  ruling  class 
is  ennobled  and  idealized  by  its  connection  with  the  cloth; 
it  calls  forth  a  hearty  laugh  from  everyone  who  is  aware 
of  the  position  held  by  the  clerical  tutor.  He  is  snubbed 
and  scorned  by  his  employer  and  is,  in  fact,  "  the  modern 
substitute  for  the  jesters  of  Gothic  memory."  The  clergy 
dare  not  resent  the  patronage  which  means  their  livelihood, 
"  an  airy  mitre  dances  before  them  "  and  they  wrap  them- 
selves in  "  their  sheep's  clothing  and  submit." 

Property,  that  other  great  pillar  of  the  state,  should  not 
be  exalted  to  the  seventh  heaven.  "  When  you  call  your- 
self the  friend  of  liberty,  ask  your  heart  whether  it  would 
not  be  more  consistent  to  style  yourself  a  champion  of 

1  Wollstonecraft,   Vindication  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  London,   1790, 
passim. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  77. 


78  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [78 

property,  and  the  adorer  of  the  golden  image  which  power 
has  set  up."  What  are  the  facts?  Property  is  too  rigid 
in  England.  Reason  and  humanity  are  sacrificed  at  the 
altar  of  the  family  estate.  The  eldest  son  is  made  a  little 
god;  the  other  sons  have  often  small  choice  between  pov- 
erty and  fawning  servility,  while  the  girls  are  bartered  for 
the  convenience  of  the  family.  "  Property,"  she  main- 
tains, "  should  be  fluctuating  or  it  is  an  everlasting  ram- 
part; a  barbarous  feudal  institution,  which  enables  the  rich 
to  overpower  talents  and  depress  virtue."  ^  Burke's  at- 
titude toward  the  poor  is  without  palliation.  His  curt 
declaration  that  they  must  respect  the  property  in  which 
they  have  no  share,  and  his  advice  that  they  seek  their 
consolation  in  eternal  justice,  Wollstonecraft  denounces. 
It  is  "  a  contemptible,  hard-hearted  sophistry  in  the  spe- 
cious form  of  humility  and  submission  to  the  will  of 
heaven,  for  it  is,  sir,  possible  to  render  the  poor  happier 
in  this  world  without  depriving  them  of  this  consola- 
tion which  you  so  gratuitously  grant  them  in  the  next." 
"  Your  respect  for  rank  has  swallowed  up  the  common 
feeling  for  humanity.  You  seem  to  consider  the  poor 
as  only  the  live  stock  of  an  estate;  the  feathers  of  heredi- 
tary nobility."  ^  Wollstonecraft  admits  that  poverty  is  un- 
esthetic  and  disgusting,  but  even  so,  decency  demands  that 
a  little  intelligence,  a  little  reason  be  exercised  on  the  prob- 
lem— break  up  the  large  estates  into  small  farms — forbid 
the  private  ownership  of  huge  forests — care  for  the  town 
mechanic,  whose  livelihood  is  at  the  whim  of  the  flux  of 
trade  or  fashion.  Let  us  have  food  and  shelter  here  before 
we  talk  of  heaven  above  or  of  hell  beneath.  "  Hell  stalks 
abroad — the  lash  resounds  on  the  slave's  naked  sides;  and 
the  sick  wretch  who  can  no  longer  earn  the  sour  bread  of 

1  Vindication  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  op.  cit.,  p.  47. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  31. 


79J  THE  RADICAL  CREED  yg 

unrelenting  labors,  steals  to  the  ditch  to  bid  the  world  a 
long  good-night."  ^  And  in  the  meanwhile  Burke  regrets 
"  the  empty  pageant  of  a  name,"  sighs  for  "  the  idle  tap- 
estry which  decorates  the  Gothic  pile,"  and  mourns  "  the 
droning  bell  which  summons  the  fat  priest  to  prayer." 

Burke's  triangular  fortress  of  private  property,  the  es- 
tablished church  and  the  British  constitution,  falls  to  the 
ground  on  every  side.  The  school  mistress,  however,  has 
a  final  blow.  She  not  only  undermines  the  philosopher's 
conclusions,  but  dynamites  as  well  his  mental  processes. 
She  is  rather  reluctant  to  do  it.  She  fears  that  "  by  the 
mere  mention  of  metaphysical  inquiry  "  his  nervous  sys- 
tem would  be  deranged,  for  Burke's  mentality  does  not 
seem  overstrong  to  Mary  Wollstonecraft.  Putting  aside 
all  subtleties  of  speech  and  tongue-fencing,  what  do  you 
mean,  she  demands  of  Burke,  by  speaking  of  "  the  moral 
constitution  of  the  heart?"  The  "inborn  sentiments" 
which  you  praise  so  highly — how  do  you  recognize  them; 
where  do  they  come  from?  What  are  they?  "  The  appe- 
tites are  the  only  perfect  inbred  powers  that  I  can  discern." 
Children  are  born  ignorant.  They  are  neither  moral  nor 
immoral.  It  is  not  nature  that  fashions  their  lives,  but 
nurture.  As  the  environment  is,  so  is  the  child.  There 
are  no  natural  instincts  towards  goodness  or  badness.  If 
there  were  any,  she  inquires,  "  what  moral  purposes  can 
be  answered  by  extolling  the  good  disposition,  as  it  is 
called,  when  these  good  dispositions  are  described  as  in- 
stincts; for  an  instinct  moves  in  a  direct  line  to  its  ulti- 
mate end,  and  asks  for  no  guidance  or  support.  But  if 
virtue  is  to  be  acquired  by  experience  or  taught  by  ex- 
ample, reason  perfected  by  reflection  must  be  the  director 
of  the  whole  host  of  passions.  .  .  .  Reason  must  hold  the 

1  Vindication  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  op.  cit.,  p.  45- 


8o  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [80 

rudder  or  let  the  wind  blow  where  it  listeth.  The  vessel  will 
never  advance  smoothly  to  its  destined  port,  for  the  time 
lost  in  tacking  about  would  dreadfully  impede  its  pro- 
gress." ^ 

"  Sentimental  jargon  "  about  "  the  moral  constitution  of 
the  heart,"  says  Wollstonecraft,  has  "  long  been  current 
in  conversation  and  even  in  the  books  of  morals,  though  it 
has  never  received  the  regal  stamp  of  reason."  It  is  all 
very  well,  she  continues,  to  talk  about  "  a  mysterious  kind 
of  instinct  which  resides  in  the  soul,"  but  the  trouble  is 
"  this  subtle,  magnetic  fluid,  which  runs  around  the  whole 
of  society  is  not  subject  to  any  human  rule."  It  befogs 
our  intelligence  and  obscures  the  issue.  Why  should  we 
not  rely  on  our  own  intelligence,  and  consign  to  the  rubbish 
heap  once  and  for  all  this  old  talk  about  "  the  moral  con- 
stitution of  the  heart."  Let  us  decide  for  ourselves;  "if 
we  don't  stop  submitting  to  authority  "  we  might  as  well 
admit  that  "  capacity  of  improvement  is  a  cheat,  an  ignis 
fatuiis  that  leads  us  from  inviting  meadows  into  bogs  and 
dunghills."  ' 

The  modern  anthropologist  and  psychologist  slowly  and 
painfully  have  come  to  the  conclusion  "  that  a  great  part  of 
what  has  been  mistaken  for  nature  is  really  nurture,  direct 
or  indirect,  conscious  or  more  commonly  wholly  uncon- 
scious." ^  This  truth  which  we  of  the  twentieth  century 
are  but  beginning  to  appreciate,  a  book  with  the  imprint 
1790,  the  hurried  output  of  a  few  weeks'  labor,  asserts  in 
clear  and  emphatic  language,  and  the  book  was  the  work  of 
a  woman. 

The  author  of  the  "  Rights  of  Man "  was  soon  still 
further  to  sustain  and  amplify  her  thesis.     In  1791,  Mary 

^  Vindication  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  op.  cit.,  p.  68. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  27. 

2  Robinson,  The  New  History,  p.  253. 


8l]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  gl 

Wollstonecraft's  corollary  to  her  defense  of  humanity 
made  its  appearance.  The  "  Vindication  of  the  Rights  of 
Woman."  the  product  of  six  weeks'  labor,  was  greeted  with 
astonishment,  consternation  and  praise.  Both  book  and 
author  were  freely  discussed.  Said  th^  Analytical  Rcviezv, 
"  the  lesser  wits  will  probably  affect  to  make  themselves 
merry  at  the  title  and  apparent  object  of  this  publication. 
.  .  .  But  we  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that  if  the 
bulk  of  the  great  truths  which  this  book  contains  were 
put  in  practice  the  nation  would  be  better,  wiser  and  hap- 
pier." ^  On  the  other  hand,  the  Critical  Rcviezv  broke 
forth  in  this  reactionary  wail :  "  We  call  on  men,  there- 
fore, to  speak,  if  they  wish  the  women  to  be  puppets  of  this 
new  scheme.  We  call  on  women  to  declare  whether  they 
will  sacrifice  their  pleasing  qualities  for  the  severity  of 
reason.  .  .  .  We  may  anticipate  their  answer  and  leave 
Mary  Wollstonecraft  to  oblivion."  -  Many  felt  that  the 
Critical  Rcviezv  had  spoken  v\'ell.  Some,  indeed,  for  con- 
science' sake  refused  to  read  the  book.  Hannah  More, 
who  doubted  at  one  time  the  expediency  of  Sunday-schools 
because  children  might  learn  to  read  Thomas  Paine  as  well 
as  the  Bible,  was  one  of  these.  "  I  have  been  much  pes- 
tered," she  wrote  to  Walpole,  "  to  read  '  The  Rights  of 
Woman,'  but  I  am  invincibly  determined  not  to  do  it.  .  . 
There  is  something  fantastic  and  absurd  about  the  very 
title."  ' 

The  book  analyzes  the  position  of  woman.     Wollstone- 

^  Analytical  Review,  March,  1792. 

'  Critical  Review,  June,  1792.  These  extracts  are  taken  from  Rausch- 
enbusch-Clough,  A  Study  of  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  p.  43. 

»  Walpole  replied,  "  I  would  not  look  at  it,  though  assured  that  it  con- 
tained neither  metaphysics  nor  politics;  but  as  she  entered  the  list  of 
the  latter,  and  borrowed  the  title  from  the  demon's  book  which  aimed 
at  spreading  the  wrongs  of  man,  she  is  excommunicated  from  the 
pale  of  my  library."  Ibid.,  p.  44.  Lordly  Walpole  also  speaks  of 
Wollstonecraft  as  "that  hyena  in  politics." 


82  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [82 

craft  admits  the  inferiority  real  or  assumed  of  her  sex.  It 
has  been  brought  about  by  three  causes.  First, — the 
physical  inferiority  of  woman  is  not  a  serious  drawback 
for  the  superiority  of  reason  over  brute  force  receives 
more  recognition  as  the  years  go  by.  Secondly,  woman 
has  in  the  past  always  been  held  subject  to  the  will  of  man, 
and  custom  has  made  it  the  norm.  Thirdly,  woman's 
ridiculous  training  has  brought  her  sex  to  this  sorry  condi- 
tion. "  The  storehouse  of  knowledge  is  closed  to  them." 
Their  education  is  absurd,  fatuous;  an  anachronism. 

Wollstonecraft,  convinced  that  nurture  alone  makes  for 
progress,  takes  for  her  main  theme  the  education  of 
woman.  Conventional  education  she  denounces  as  horrible : 
"  Women  are  told  from  infancy,  and  taught  by  the  ex- 
ample of  their  mothers,  that  the  little  knowledge  of  human 
weakness  justly  termed  cunning,  softness  of  temper,  out- 
ward obedience  and  a  scrupulous  attention  to  a  certain  kind 
of  piety,"  would  accomplish  all  that  was  necessary,  and  as 
for  wealthy  women,  "  confined  in  cages  like  the  feathered 
race,  they  have  nothing  to  do  but  plume  themselves  and 
move  with  mock  majesty  from  perch  to  perch."  ^  There  is 
some  seriousness  in  the  education  of  man.  He  is  prepared 
for  business,  for  the  professions,  for  public  life.  His  mind 
has  a  chance  to  expand,  develop,  and  to  reason.  Poor 
woman  is  not  expected  to  reason.  Her  thinking  is  to  be 
done  for  her.  The  modesty  of  her  sex  demands  that  she 
be  guarded,  protected  and  cherished. 

"  And  will  moralists  pretend  to  assert  that  this  is  the 
condition  in  which  one-half  of  the  human  race  should  be 
encouraged  to  remain,  with  listless  inactivity  and  stupid 
acquiescence?  Kind  instructors!  What  are  we  created 
for?    To  remain,  it  may  be  said,  innocent;  they  mean  in  a 

1  Wollstonecraft.  Vindication  of  the  Rights  of  Woman,  p.  118. 


83]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  g^ 

state  of  childhood.  We  might  as  well  never  have  been 
born,  unless  it  were  necessary  that  we  should  be  created 
to  enable  man  to  acquire  the  noble  privilege  of  reason,  the 
power  for  discerning  good  from  evil,  whilst  we  lie  down 
in  the  dust  from  whence  we  were  taken,  never  to  rise 
again."  ^  The  defenceless  woman,  the  white  muslin  hero- 
ine, Wollstonecraft  excoriates.  "  In  the  most  trifling  dan- 
gers they  cling  to  their  support;  with  parasitical  tenacity, 
piteously  demanding  succor;  and  their  natural  protector 
extends  his  arm,  or  lifts  up  his  voice,  to  guard  the  lovely 
trembler — from  what?  Perhaps  the  frown  of  an  old  cow, 
or  the  jump  of  a  mouse;  a  rat  would  be  a  serious  danger." 
The  entire  system  of  female  education  must  be  revolu- 
tionized. '■  We  should  hear  of  none  of  these  infantile 
airs,"  she  said,  ''  if  girls  were  allowed  to  take  sufficient 
exercise,  instead  of  being  confined  to  a  close  room  till  their 
muscles  are  relaxed,  and  their  power  of  digestion  de- 
stroyed." The  remedy  is  simple.  Boys  and  girls  in  the 
primary  schools  should  be  kept  together.  Women  should 
know  something  about  anatomy.  They  might  study  the 
art  of  healing  and  become  physicians — in  fact,  declares 
Mary  Wollstonecraft,  "  I  may  excite  laughter  by  dropping 
a  hint,"  and  the  hint  intimates  the  possibility  of  women  en- 
tering politics.^  No  emphasis,  however,  is  given  to  this 
point.  Her  insistance  is  upon  the  feminist  movement  in  its 
larger  aspect :  *'  The  laws  respecting  women  make  an  ab- 
surd unit  of  man  and  his  wife,  and  then  by  the  easy  tran- 
sition of  considering  him  the  only  responsible  being,  she 
is  reduced  to  nearly  a  cipher."  Society  should  provide  for 
honest,  independent  women,  and  encourage  them  to  earn 
an  independent  livelihood. 

1  Vindication  of  the  Rights  of  Woman,  op.  cit.,  p.  131. 
"  This  idea  was  to  be  dviveloped  in  a  second  volume  which  was  never 
written, — Rauschenbusch-Clough,  op.  cit.,  p.  36. 


84  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [84 

History  is  beginning  to  pay  a  tardy  tribute  to  Mary 
Wollstonecraft.  As  the  wife  of  Godwin,  and  as  the  mother 
of  ]\Irs.  Shelley,  she  has  been  long  a  familiar  figure — but  a 
figure  only.  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  the  woman  of  passion 
and  the  woman  of  intellect,  has  been  too  long  in  the 
shadow.  Her  whole  life  was  far  from  easy.^  Strug- 
gling against  the  poverty  engendered  by  the  failing  for- 
tunes of  a  middle  class  family,  she  endeavored  to  estab- 
lish a  school.  The  project  failed,  and  nothing  remained 
for  her  but  the  position  of  a  governess.  Shortly  after  this 
time,  however,  Johnson,  the  publisher,  issued  a  contribu- 
tion from  the  governess  on  education.  "  The  Vindication 
of  the  Rights  of  Man  "  soon  followed  and  Wollstonecraft, 
as  an  influential  member  of  that  little  group  of  advanced 
radicals  which  foregathered  around  Paine,  Holcroft,  God- 
win and  others  interested  in  social  reform  and  revolution- 
ary ideas,  was  now  in  her  element.  Wollstonecraft  moved 
to  Paris,  where  she  lived  with  an  American,  Captain  Gil- 
bert Imlay.  Though  a  child  was  born  to  them,  Imlay  soon 
left  the  mother,  never  to  return ;  and  for  Mary  Wollstone- 
craft many  bitter  experiences  were  in  store.  William  God- 
win, the  philosopher,  at  last  won  her  heart.  She  and  God- 
win lived  happily  together,  and  shortly  before  the  birth  of 
their  daughter  they  were  married.  Their  happiness  was 
short-lived,  for  Mary  died  when  her  daughter  was  born. 
This  daughter,  Harriet  Godwin,  afterwards  became  the 
Avife  of  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley." 

Mary  Wollstonecraft  was  well-nigh  forgotten  amid  the 
bleatings  of  timidity,  exclamations  of  hatred,  and  shouts 

^  G.  Stanley  Taylor,  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  a  Study  in  Economics  and 
Romance,  passim. 

2  Free  use  has  been  made  of  Rauschenbusch-Clough,  Mary  Woll- 
stonecraft, a  study,  and  G.  S.  Taylor,  Mary  Wollstonecraft,  a  Study 
in  Economics  and  Romance. 


85]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  85 

of  approval  which  greeted  the  writings  of  Thomas  Paine. 
Paine,  centre  and  life  of  the  radical  movement,  as  genu- 
inely embodied  the  spirit  of  radicalism  as  did  Burke  the 
heart  and  soul  of  conservatism/  By  everybody  of  the 
period  this  was  recognized.  Paine's  "  Rights  of  ]\Ian  "' 
had  a  wider  circulation  and  a  more  profound  influence  than 
any  book  issued  in  the  radical  cause.  Evidence  of  this,  var- 
ied in  character  and  overwhelming  in  cjuantity,  greets  us  on 
every  hand.  Turn  to  the  State  Trials  for  Treason  of  the 
3^ears  1794-1795,  and  the  enormous  vogue  of  the  "  Rights 
of  Man  "  stands  out  in  bold  relief."  The  same  story  is 
echoed  by  the  press."  It  is  demonstrated  by  the  frequent 
and  reiterated  discussion  of  Paine  in  contemporaneous 
pamphlets,    and   in   numerous   replies   which   his   writings 

*  Those  writers  who  regard  Price  as  the  great  opponent  of  Burke 
fail  to  catch  the  real  spirit  of  the  times.  Laprade,  England  and  the 
French  Revolution,  pp.  11-24,  develops  this  theory,  and  contrasts 
the  semi-conservative  Price  with  the  ultra-conservative  Burke,  to  the 
entire  exclusion  of  real  radicalism. 

-  Trial  of  John  Home  Tooke,  State  Trials,  xxv,  107.  Here  we 
are  informed  that  the  Radical  Society  of  Sheffield  resolved:  "That 
they  considered  the  'Rights  of  Man'  the  most  important  book  written 
on  reform."  For  praise  of  Paine  by  the  Manchester  Constitutional 
Society,  ibid.,  p.  134.  Similar  praise  from  the  Radical  Associations 
in  Norwich,  ibid.,  p.  146.  The  Corresponding  Society  urges  a  cheap 
edition  of  Paine,  ibid.,  p.  156. 

8  The  Public  Advertiser  estimates  on  February  21,  1792,  that  fifty 
thousand  copies  of  the  "Rights  of  Man"  had  been  sold. 

Conway,  the  biographer  of  Paine,  says  that  a  careful  contemporan- 
eous estimate  of  the  number  of  copies  sold  by  1793  was  upwards  of 
two  hundred  thousand.  (Conway,  Life  of  Paine,  i,  346.)  The  second 
part  was  issued  on  March  13,  1792.  On  the  second  of  July  of  the  same 
year  Paine  wrote  to  Washington  that  11,000  out  of  iC.ooo  issued  had 
been  sold.  (Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  xliii,  73.)  A  two- 
penny edition,  translated  into  Gaelic,  had  a  wide  circulation  in  the 
Highlands.     (Mathieson,  Awakening  of  Scotland,  p.  124.) 


86  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [86 

called  forth/  It  is  indicated  by  venomous  hatred  of  Paine 
assumed  in  certain  aristocratic  quarters.  We  are  told  that 
it  was  fashionable  to  wear  ''  Tom  Paine  "  shoe  nails,  that 
he  might  be  trampled  under  foot.  "  Tom  Paine  "  pitchers 
were  manufactured  bearing  painted  serpents  with  Paine's 
head  and  this  accompanying  inscription: 

"  Observe  the  wicked  and  malicious  man, 
Projecting  all  the  mischief  that  he  can." 

The   burning  of    Paine   in   effigy   was   a   common   sight," 

1  Among  them  were — A  rod  in  brine  for  a  tickler  for  Tom  Paine 
by  an  Oxford  graduate;  Various  Opinions  of  tJie  Philosophical  Re- 
formers Considered,  particularly  Paine's  Rights  of  Man,  by  Charles 
Hawry,  Vicar  of  Bampton,  ("  Monthly  iReview,"  vii,  1792,  p.  354,  says 
that  Hawry  has  generally  classified  all  reformers  as  fools,  madmen, 
heretics,  or  learned  Thebans)  ;  Azotes  upon  Paine's  Rights  of  Man, 
1791 ;  Reform,  a  farce,  modernised  by  Aristophanes,  and  published 
with  annotations  by  S.  Foote,  Jr.;  An  Examination  of  Mr.  Paine's 
Writings  by  William  Fox. 

Many  others  might  be  cited.  On  the  continent  the  "  Rights  of 
Man"  was  widely  known.  In  the  British  Critic  for  1797  (vol.  ix, 
p.  682),  a  book  is  reviewed  which  indicates  the  general  international 
interest  created  by  Paine's  publication.  It  is  entitled  Adam  Smith, 
Auteur  sur  la  richesse  des  nations  et  Thomas  Paine;  essai  de  critique 
publie  dans  toutes  les  langues,  by  S.  A.  Joersson.  This  book  went 
through  many  editions. 

In  America  the  "  Rights  of  Man  "  received  favorable  comment  from 
Jefferson  and  other  prominent  .men. 

Sir  Samuel  Romilly  said,  "  It  is  written  in  his  own  wild  but  forcible 
style;  inaccurate  in  point  of  grammar;  flat  where  he  attempts  wit, 
and  often  ridiculous  when  he  indulges  in  metaphors ;  but  for  all  that 
full  of  spirit,  and  energy,  and  likely  to  produce  a  great  effect.  It  has 
done  that  a  good  deal  already,  and  in  the  course  of  a  fortnight  has 
gone  through  three  editions,  and  what  I  own  has  a  good  deal  sur- 
prised me,  has  made  converts  of  many  persons  who  were  before 
enemies  to  the  revolution.     (Romilly,  Autobiography,  p.  318.) 

2  For  the  burning  of  Paine  in  effigy  see  Conway,  Writings  of 
Paine,  ii,  226.  Paine  was  hung  also  in  Jersey  in  effigy,  with  the  red 
cap  of  liberty  and  the  "  Rights  of  Man."  Sun,  Jan.  18,  1793.  The 
writer  of  the  day  assures  us  in  1792  that  "  this  month  Thomas  Paine, 
author  of  the  '  Rights  of  Man,'  etc.,  was  burned  at  most  of  the  towns 


87]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  g^ 

while,  on  the  other  hand,  celebrations  were  held  in  his 
honor/ 

This  book  of  Paine's,  which  created  such  a  furore,  was, 
in  many  ways,  not  ultra-radical.  Many  people  at  present 
would  consider  it  conservative;  yet  after  its  appearance 
certain  good  folk  refused  to  open  it.  That  champion  of 
liberty,  Charles  James  Fox,  boasted  that  he  had  not  read 
the  second  part,  and  no  fewer  than  fifteen  members  of  his 
Whig  club,  out  of  respect  for  his  opinion,  destroyed  their 
copies.^  Why  this  intense  bitterness  of  spirit?  The  ques- 
tion is  easily  answered  when  Paine's  marvelous  style  is 
taken  into  account.  Matchless  for  the  purpose  in  hand, 
terse  and  epigrammatic,  his  homely  phrases  were  seized  on 
with  avidity  by  the  people  for  whom  he  wrote.  They  be- 
came catchwords ;  household  proverbs ;  verbal  banners  to 
flaunt  before  the  astonished  vision  of  a  comfortable  aris- 
tocracy and  a  contented  conservatism. 

Hardly  indeed  can  we  account  for  Paine's  ascendency 
on  any  other  ground.  He  is  not  more  extreme  than  the 
great  bulk  of  his  school,  neither  does  he  excel  the  abler  of 

and  considerable  villages  in  Northumberland  and  Durham."  For  a 
good  account  of  the  anti-Paine  propaganda  in  country  towns,  see 
Thomas  Poole  and  his  Friends,  by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Henry  San- 
ford,  i,  34-37. 

'  Paine  was  not  fond  of  banquets  or  personal  display.  He  dis- 
liked public  speaking,  and  refused  to  attend  one  big  banquet  held  in 
his  honor  in  London.  In  1791,  however,  as  the  guest  of  a  banquet  of 
the  Revolution  Society,  much  to-do  was  made  over  him,  as  extracts 
from  the  following  song  will  indicate : 

"  He  comes,  the  great  reformer  comes ! 

Cease,  cease  your  trumpets,  cease,  cease  your  drums ! 
Those  warlike  sounds  offend  the  ear, 
Peace  and  friendship  now  appear. 
Welcome,  welcome,  welcome,  welcome! 
Welcom.e,  thou  reformer,  here!" 
Conway,  Life  of  Paine,  i,  324. 
^  Oracle  and  Public  Advertiser,  May  9,  I797- 


88  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [88 

his  contemporaries  in  the  cogency  and  logic  of  his  reasoning. 
It  is  true  that  he  treated  with  scant  respect  many  cherished 
institutions  of  his  day;^  it  is  true  that  he  was  repubHcan 
at  heart  and  a  believer  in  representative  democracy.  But 
so  likewise  were  most  of  his  fellow-radicals.  In  his  view 
of  history,  Paine  was  in  some  ways  more  conservative  than 
Burke,  while  his  theory  of  governmental  activity  and  func- 
tion would  at  the  present  time  be  considered  quite  old- 
fashioned.  Governmental  control  of  industrial  affairs  is 
not  even  intimated.  The  less  money  spent  by  the  govern- 
ment, the  better,  Paine  argued,  and  in  his  celebrated  letter 
to  Secretary  Dundas  ~  he  declared  that  Pitt  was  but  "  a 
school  boy  "  in  his  pride  at  raising  taxes.  A  real  political 
genius  would  only  take  pride,  he  intimates,  in  lessening 
the  supply  and  necessity  of  taxation.  Certain  suggestions, 
certain  hints  appear  in  the  "  Rights  of  Man "  which 
might  imply  an  extensive  system  of  governmental  educa- 
tion, labor  bureaus,  and  old-age  pensions,  but,  save  in  the 
proposal  of  pensions,  the  plan  outlined  is  fragmentary  and 
tentative;  even  in  the  matter  of  old-age  pensions  Paine  ex- 
pects to  accomplish  his  scheme 'with  a  decreased  tax  rate. 

What  does  an  analysis  of  the  "  Rights  of  Man  "  show? 
Paine  is  as  expert  as  Burke  in  vituperation.  The  sins  of 
the  one,  if  they  do  not  cancel,  at  least  balance  the  sins  of 
the  other.  In  outlining  his  theories,  then,  we  will  afford 
him  the  same  courtesy  given  to  his  illustrious  rival.  Bursts 
of  temper  and  abuse  we  may  well  rule  out,  as  also  all  ideas, 
hypotheses  and  theories  which  are  not  pertinent  to  the 
main  thread  of  his  argument. 

^  "After  all,"  cries  Paine,  "what  is  this  metaphor  called  a  crown; 
or  rather  what  is  a  monarchy?  Is  it  a  thing?  Is  it  a  name — or  is  it 
a  fraud?  Is  it  a  contrivance  of  human  wisdom,  or  of  human 
craft  to  obtain  money  from  a  nation  under  pretence  of  fraud?" 
Paine,  Works,  II,  p.  366. 

2  To  Mr.  Secretary  Dundas,  Paine,  Works,  iii,  18. 


89]  ^^^^  RADICAL  CREED  go 

The  "  Rights  of  Man  "  was  written  in  two  parts.  The 
first  part,  published  in  February,  1791,  is  a  direct  indict- 
ment of  Burke's  thesis;  scathing  and  bitter.  Freedom 
from  the  heavy  weight  of  antiquity  we  must  possess, 
maintains  the  author.  "  Vanity  and  presumption  of  gov- 
erning beyond  the  grave  is  the  most  ridiculous  and  insolent 
of  all  tyranny.  Man  has  no  property  in  man,  neither  has 
any  generation  property  in  the  generations  which  are  to 
follow."  The  French  nation  has  been  animated  by  this 
principle.  ''The  Augean  stable  of  parasites  and  plunderers" 
across  the  channel  needed  a  revolution  and  in  cleaning  their 
house  the  French  have  done  well.  Violence  and  blood- 
shed accompanied  this  change,  but  who  was  responsible  for 
it  ?  The  aristocracy,  Paine  says,  plotted  against  the  revolu- 
tion, and  took  the  offensive,  and  as  for  heads  on  pikes  and 
other  unpleasant  spectacles,  have  not  all  the  conservative 
governments  of  Europe  long  made  such  sights  familiar? 
"  Lay  then  the  axe  to  the  root,"  he  demands,  "  and  teach 
governments  humanity.  It  is  their  sanguinary  punishments 
which  corrupt  mankind."  Do  not  blame  the  people  for 
copying  their  example.^  This  running  defence  of  the 
French  revolution  need  not  detain  us  long,  nor  need  part 
one  of  the  "  Rights  of  Man."  The  second  part,  published 
in  March,  1792,  combining  theory  and  practice,  tells  us 
what  we  care  to  know  most  about,  namely,  Paine's  diagno- 
sis of  contemporary  discontent  and  his  proposed  remedy. 

"  When  in  countries  that  we  call  civilized  we  see  age 
going  to  the  workhouse  and  youth  to  the  gallows,  some- 
thing must  be  vs-rong  in  the  system  of  government."  Why 
is  it,  Paine  continues,  "  that  scarcely  any  arc  executed  but 
the  poor.  The  fact  is  a  proof  among  other  things  of  the 
wretchedness  of  their  position.  Bred  up  without  morals, 
and  cast  upon  the  world  without  prospects,  they  are  the 

^  Paine,  Rights  of  man,  Part  i,  passim. 


90  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [go 

exposed  sacrifice  of  vice  and  legal  barbarity."  ^  The  basic 
evil  is  bad  environment  accompanied  by  poverty,  "  lack 
of  education  for  the  young  and  a  decent  livelihood  for  the 
old,"  as  he  puts  it. 

Where  does  the  responsibility  for  this  state  of  affairs 
rest?  It  rests  with  the  government,  and  in  England  the 
government  is  thoroughly  bad.  Its  keynote  is  special  privi- 
lege. The  existence  of  chartered  corporations  which  con- 
trol the  membership  of  the  House  of  Commons  is  the  seat 
of  the  disorder.  These  charters  give  no  indication  of  lib- 
erty— quite  the  contrary.  "  If  charters  were  constructed 
so  as  to  express  in  direct  terms  that  every  inhabitant  who 
is  not  a  member  of  the  corporation  shall  not  exercise  the 
right  of  voting,  such  charters  would  on  the  face  be  char- 
ters not  of  right,  but  of  exclusion."^  Paine  saw  clearly 
that  the  House  of  Commons  was  made  up  in  bulk  of  repre- 
sentatives of  these  special  privileges.  Not  otherwise  was 
it  with  the  House  of  Lords,  for  "  it  amounts  to  a  combi- 
nation of  persons  of  special  interests.  No  better  reason 
can  be  given,"  he  said,  "  why  the  house  of  legislature  should 
be  composed  entirely  of  men  whose  occupation  is  in  letting 
landed  property  than  why  it  should  be  composed  of  those 
v/ho  hire,  or  brewers,  or  bakers,  or  of  any  other  separate 
class  of  men."  ^ 

Nor  is  this  a  matter  of  pure  theory.  In  practice  the  sys- 
tem works  poorly,  and  Paine  believes  that  British  finance 
affords  the  jiroof.  The  taxes  are  raised  in  an  unjust  man- 
ner, and  he  tells  us  why.*  Once  raised  the  money  is  fool- 
ishly spent,  and  Paine  again  tells  us  why,  presenting  at  the 
same  time  an  ideal  budget  which  demonstrates  concisely 
his  theory  of  the  functions  of  government.     He  estimates 

1  Paine,  Works,  ii,  462. 

^Ibid.,  ii,  465.  ^  Ibid.,  ii,  468. 

*  For  a  discussion  of  the  incidents  of  taxation  see  ibid.,  ii,  471,  472. 


91  ]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  gi 

that  there  remained  of  the  national  income,  after  deduct- 
ing the  interest  on  the  national  debt,  the  net  sum  of  eight 
million  pounds.  Of  this  sum  he  claims  that  "  five  hundred 
thousand  pounds  is  more  than  sufficient  to  defray  all  the 
expense  of  government,  exclusive  of  armies  and  navies."  ^ 
That  is,  from  this  sum  all  necessary  salaries  and  expenses 
of  administration  might  be  met.  Five  hundred  thousand 
more  pounds  would  provide  for  a  skeleton  navy;  an  equal 
sum  would  suffice  the  army.  Of  the  six  and  one-half  mil- 
lion pounds  which  remained  to  be  disposed  of,  four  million, 
or  one-half  the  total  revenue  of  the  country  he  assigns  to 
the  relief  of  the  poor  and  to  education.  This  he  would 
do  roughly  as  follows :  ( i )  provision  to  be  made  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  poor  families;  (2)  education 
to  be  provided  for  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  chil- 
dren; (3)  comfortable  pensions  granted  to  one  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  aged  people;  (4)  donations,  or  prem- 
iums, to  be  given  for  births  and  marriages,  together  with 
an  allowance  for  funeral  expenses  of  people  dying  out  of 
work  and  away  from  their  friends.  State  employment  and 
lodging-houses  ought  also  to  be  provided  for  workmen  in 
the  cities  of  London  and  Westminster. 

This  is  Paine's  plan.  He  is  not  very  felicitous  in  the  de- 
tails. He  apportions  the  mone}^  unscientifically ;  that  given 
for  direct  poor  relief  is  altogether  too  large.  A  diminutive 
sum  is  given  to  the  state  labor  bureau.  This  bureau  is  evi- 
dently entirely  experimental,  and  yet  that  Paine  thought 
of  it  at  all  is  commendable.  Of  the  remaining  two  and  one- 
half  million  pounds,  Paine  would  spend  one  quarter  in 
pensioning  the  disbanded  officers  and  men  of  the  dimin- 
ished army  and  navy.^     Enough  would  be  left  to  warrant 

1  Paine,  Works,  ii,  482. 

2  Ibid.,  ii,  482.  Paine  calculates  that  as  this  money  grew  less  and  less 
with  the  diminished  number  of  pensioners  certain  special  taxes  might 
be  removed,  such  as  those  on  soap,  candles,  etc. 


92  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [92 

the  removal  of  the  tax  on  houses  and  upon  windows  which 
bears  heaviest  of  all  on  the  middle  class  of  people.  Re- 
move it  entirely,  and  we  are  left  with  a  balance  of  one 
million  pounds.  Any  number  of  ways,  he  tells  us,  may  be 
found  in  which  to  divide  this  money.  Some  of  it  might 
go  to  underpaid  revenue  officers;  the  inferior  clergy  also 
ought  to  be  considered.  Incidental  expenditures  would 
probably  consume  what  remained. 

Having  spent  the  revenue,  Paine  now  explains  to  us  his 
ideal  basis  of  taxation.  He  aptly  remarks,  that  "  when 
taxes  are  proposed  the  country  is  aroused  by  the  plausible 
language  of  taxing  luxuries.  One  thing  is  called  a  luxury 
at  one  time,  and  another  at  another.  But  the  real  luxury 
does  not  consist  in  articles,  but  in  the  means  of  procuring 
them,  and  this  is  always  kept  out  of  sight."  ^  The  only 
fair  way  to  do,  he  argues,  is  to  levy  an  income  tax.  It 
should  be  a  progressive  income  tax,  for  not  only  would  the 
greater  income  be  produced  that  way  but  also  in  so  doing 
we  should  deal  a  blow  at  primogeniture.  Primogeniture, 
which  Paine  terms  "  an  attaint  upon  character,"  should  be 
done  away  with,  "  not  only  because  it  is  unnatural  and 
unjust,  but  because  the  country  suffers  by  its  operation. 
By  cutting  off  the  younger  children  from  their  proper  por- 
tion of  inheritance,  the  public  is  loaded  with  the  expense  of 
maintaining  them,  and  the  freedom  of  election  violated  by 
the  overbearing  influence  which  this  unjust  monopoly  of 
family  property  produces."  Nor  is  this  all.  It  occasions  a 
waste  of  national  wealth.  Many  acres  of  rural  England 
are  rendered  unproductive  by  the  great  extent  of  parks 
and  chases  which  this  law  serves  to  keep  up,  and  this  at  a 
time  when  the  annual  production  of  grain  is  not  equal  to 
the  national  consumption.^ 

1  Paine,  Works,  ii,  496.       •  -  Ibid.,  ii,  500. 


93]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  g-> 

The  "  Rights  of  Man  "  contains  in  addition  valuable 
suggestions  for  the  furtherance  of  international  comity.^ 
A  treaty  is  advocated  between  England,  France,  the  United 
States  and  Holland.  In  accordance  with  this  treaty  no  new 
ships  may  be  built  by  any  of  the  signatory  powers,  while 
their  existing  naval  establishments  are  to  be  reduced  to 
one-half  of  their  existing  strength.  "If  men  will  permit 
themselves,"  he  says,  "  to  think  as  rational  beings  ought  to 
think,  nothing  can  appear  more  ridiculous  and  absurd  .  .  . 
than  to  be  at  the  expense  of  building  navies,  filling  them 
with  men,  and  then  hauling  them  out  into  the  ocean  to  see 
which  can  sink  each  other  the  fastest."  " 

Commerce  does  not  depend  upon  ships  of  war.  The 
prosperity  of  one  country  is  the  prosperity  of  another. 
Paine  knew  his  Adam  Smith.  Break  down  all  artificial 
barriers  is  his  plea.  Boundaries,  custom  houses,  national 
regulations,  all  impede  prosperity.  Peace  abroad,  economy 
and  generous  provision  for  the  poor  at  home,  comprise,  in 
short,  the  principal  articles  of  Paine's  political  philosophy.^ 

The  "  Rights  of  Man  "  brought  much  money  to  Paine 
with  which  he  was  very  generous.  Despite  the  fact  that  he 
was  living  in  comparative  poverty  at  the  time,*  he  turned 

1  Paine's  method  of  reducing  the  national  debt  is  omitted,  as  it  in- 
cludes some  technical  discussions.     Works,  ii,  504-507. 

1  Paine,  Works,  ii,  511.  The  four  nations  mentioned  are  to  see  to 
it  that  others  cease  from  building  warships. 

3  In  this  book  Paine  says  nothing  about  religion  which  could  be  of- 
fensive to  anybody— in  fact,  he  signilicantly  states  that  he  has  avoided 
the  subject  "because  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  what  is  called  the 
present  ministry  wish  to  see  contention  about  religion  kept  up  to  pre- 
vent the  nation  turning  its  attention  to  subjects  of  government." 
{Works,  ii,  515.)  That  Paine's  republicanism  was  somewhat  inci- 
dental is  his  scheme  of  things,  is  indicated  by  his  defence  of  a  limited 
monarchy  in  the  French   Constitution. 

*  Conway,  Life  of  Paine,  i,  288. 


94  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [q^ 

over  to  the  London  Constitutional  Society  the  thousand 
pounds  which  he  obtained  from  royalties/  enabling  it  to 
scatter  copies  broadcast.  All  radicals  were  interested  in 
its  circulation.  Suggestions  were  made  for  abstracts  and 
abbreviated  editions.^  Copies  were  said  to  have  been  cir- 
culated in  all  shapes  and  sizes,  and  even  to  have  been  used 
for  the  wrapping  of  candy. 

Part  Two  was  in  particular  demand.  Paine  refused  an 
offer  of  a  thousand  pounds  from  his  publisher,  Chapman, 
for  he  feared  that  its  extensive  use  might  be  checked.^ 
He  need  have  had  no  fear  on  that  score.  No  book  of  its 
generation  had,  in  Great  Britain,  the  vogue  of  the  "  Rights 
of  Man." 

Other  political  writings  of  Paine  add  but  little  to  the 
radical  synthesis,  nor  did  they  vie  in  circulation  or  influ- 
ence with  the  "  Rights  of  Man."  "  Address  to  Ad- 
dressors  "  and  "  A  Letter  to  Secretary  Dundas  "  we  have 
quoted  elsewhere.  "  Agrarian  Justice  "  does,  it  is  true,  lean 
far  more  towards  socialism  than  the  earlier  books.  It 
was,  however,  not  published  until  1797,  well  to  the  end  of 
our  period.  Nor  have  we  made  mention  of  "  The  Age  of 
Reason,"  the  authorized  edition  of  which  was  not  pub- 
lished until  1796.  It  was  promptly  suppressed  by  the 
government,"*  and  its  influence  in  England  was  of  no  great 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  491. 

2  Ibid.,  XXV,  156. 

'  The  evidence  that  Chapman  desired  the  copyright,  either  to  change, 
or  to  suppress  the  book  entirely,  is  given  in  Conway,  Life  of  Paine, 
i,  30.  An  account  also  is  here  given  of  a  libellous  account  of  Paine's 
life. 

*  A  poor  dealer  named  Williams  was  apprehended  for  selling  a  copy 
of  "  The  Age  of  Reason."  As  the  man  had  two  children  ill  with  the 
smallpox,  and  was  otherwise  distressed,  Erskine  was  said  to  have 
pleaded  in  vain  with  Wilberforce,  the  philanthropist,  and  Porteus, 
Bishop  of  London,  for  leniency. 


95]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  ge 

moment  until  the  very  end  of  the  century.^  Much  maligned 
as  that  book  was,  and  interesting  as  an  analysis  of  it  might 
be,  its  study  is  omitted,  so  far  afield  is  the  work  from  the 
general  tenor  of  the  radicalism  of  our  period. 

Thomas  Paine  was,  from  many  points  of  view,  the  best 
known  international  figure  of  his  day.  Such  a  claim  seems 
at  first  sight  somewhat  exaggerated,  but  who  else  repre- 
sented as  he  did  three  nations?  Friend  of  Washington 
and  Jefferson,  champion  of  the  revolting  colonies,  his 
place  in  American  history  is  assured.  France  also  knew 
well  this  Americanized  Englishman.  He  bore,  as  her  repre- 
sentative, the  key  of  the  Bastille  to  Washington.  He  was 
also  a  member  of  the  French  convention,  and  an  influential 
member,  if  we  may  judge  from  his  speech  on  behalf  of  the 
French  king.  In  England,  too,  Paine  had  long  ceased  to  be 
the  poor  exciseman,  without  influence  and  without  friends. 
Between  the  American  and  the  French  revolutions  we  find 
him  visiting,  on  terms  of  familiarity.  Burke,  Portland. 
Fox,  and  other  Whig  leaders.^  Certainly  no  American  at 
this  time  received  a  warmer  welcome  in  England. 

Nor  did  Paine's  English  prestige  disappear  with  the 
publication  of  the  "  Rights  of  Man."  It  changed  its 
character,  it  is  true,  but  Paine  to  many  thousands  in 
Great  Britain  now  became  a  popular  hero,  where  before 
known  to  a  few  only  as  a  successful  bridge  builder  and 
pamphleteer.  And,  although  he  lived  in  London  very 
quietly  at  the  house  of  his  friend,  the  bookseller  Rick- 
man,^  that  house  was  the  centre  of  attraction   for  God- 

1  The  nickname  "devil's  disciple"  was  apparently  not  in  general 
usage  until  toward  the  end  of  the  century.  A  group  of  his  adherents  in 
Glasgow  were  known  as  the  "Hell  Fire  Club."  Glasgozu,  Past  and 
Present,  i,  249  (Glasgow,  1884). 

2  Conway,  Life  of  Paine,  i,  244. 

*  Rickman's  children  were  named  Paine,  Washington,  Franklin, 
Rousseau.  Petrarch,  Volney.    Ibid.,  i,  25. 


96  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [96 

win,  Horne  Tooke,  Romney,  Holcroft  and  others  of  like 
mind.  Quite  content  Paine  must  have  been,  for  he  was 
no  demagogue  who  longed  for  popular  applause.  Indeed, 
if  we  are  to  accept  the  testimony  of  Rickman,  Paine  was 
more  fond  of  a  quiet  conversation  and  a  game  of  dominoes 
than  of  general  society.^ 

Paine  w^as  not  to  stay  in  England  long.  In  1792,  acting 
on  the  advice  of  his  friends,  he  fled  to  France.  His  flight 
came  none  too  soon.  Twenty  minutes  after  he  sailed  from 
Dover,  orders  arrived  from  the  Home  Office  to  detain  him.* 
The  English  government,  baffled  of  their  prey,  proceeded 
in  somewhat  silly  fashion  to  try  the  fugitive  for  a  sedi- 
tious libel.  The  trial  was  a  farce.  Erskine  made  a  noble 
effort  on  Paine's  behalf,  but  it  was  useless.  If  there  had 
been  any  question  of  the  verdict,  its  result  would  have  been 
guaranteed  by  a  letter  \vhich  Paine  wrote  to  the  attorney- 
general.  The  letter  was  read  at  the  trial.  Paine  said  in  it : 
"  The  time,  sir,  is  becoming  too  serious  to  play  with  Court 
prosecutions,  and  sport  with  national  rights.  .  .  .  That 
the  Government  of  England  is  as  great,  if  not  the  greatest 
perfection  of  fraud  and  corruption  that  ever  took  place 
since  governments  began,  is  what  you  cannot  be  a  stranger 
to;  unless  the  constant  habit  of  seeing  it  has  blinded  your 
sense.  But  though  you  may  not  chuse  to  see  it,  the  people 
are  seeing  it  very  fast,  and  the  progress  is  beyond  what 
you  may  chuse  to  believe.  Is  it  possible  that  you  or  I  can 
believe,  or  that  reason  can  make  any  other  man  believe, 
that  the  capacity  of  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Guelph,  or  any  of 
his  profligate  sons,  is  necessary  to  the  government  of  a 
nation?  I  speak  to  you  as  one  man  ought  to  speak  to  an- 
other; and  I  know  also  that  I  speak  what  other  people 

'  Conway,  Life  of  Paine,  i,  321. 

*  Gilchrist,  Life  of  William  Blake,  i,  95. 


97]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  07 

are  beginning  to  think."  ^  Do  anything  you  desire. 
Paine  continues:  I  have  weightier  matters  on  hand, — and 
he  had.  The  king  of  France  was  soon  on  trial  for  his  life. 
Among  those  who  pleaded  for  him  was  the  much-execrated 
radical,  Thomas  Paine. 

Wollstonecraft  and  Paine  have  formulated  the  creed  of 
radicalism;  still  further  to  define  its  tenets,  we  should 
speak  briefly  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh  and  Jeremy  Ben- 
tham.  To  dismiss  the  work  of  Mackintosh  and  Bentham 
as  an  appendix  to  that  of  Wollstonecraft  may  seem  ques- 
tionable; yet  Mackintosh  was  but  half  a  radical,  and  his 
answer  to  Burke,  though  brilliant,  is  largely  a  refutation  of 
erroneous  statement  of  fact.  As  for  Bentham,  while  none 
can  question  his  radicalism  all  must  admit  that  his  work 
and  influence  belong  to  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  fiat  has  gone  forth  that  the  Vindiciae  Gallicae  of 
Sir  James  Mackintosh  is  the  ablest  reply  to  Burke  which 
history  records.  Let  us  admit  that  the  vindication  is  most 
beautifully  written.  Let  us  also  admit  that  it  contains  the 
most  lucid,  comprehensive  and  emphatic  expression  of  the 
radical  spirit  in  English  literature;  and  it  is  that  expres- 
sion so  fitly  supplementing  the  thought  and  argument  of 
our  two  previous  authors,  that  we  would  emphasize. 

Mackintosh  insisted  that  we  should  pay  more  attention 
to  reason  and  justice  and  less  to  tradition  and  custom.  He 
regarded  with  impatience  precedents  deduced  from  the 
good  old  days.  "A  pleader,"  he  said,  at  Old  Bailey, 
"  who  would  attempt  to  aggravate  the  guilt  of  a  robber  or 
murderer  by  proving  that  King  John  or  King  Alfred  pun- 
ished robbery  and  murder,  would  only  provoke  derision. 
A  man  who  should  pretend  that  the  reason  why  we  have 
the  right  to  property  is  because  our  ancestors  enjoyed  that 
right  four  hundred  years  ago  would  be  justly  condemned. 

1  State  Trials,  xxii,  405- 


98  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [gg 

Yet  so  little  is  plain  sense  heard  in  the  mysterious  nonsense 
which  is  the  cloak  of  political  fraud  that  the  Cokes,  Black- 
stones  and  Burkes  speak  as  if  our  right  to  freedom  de- 
pended on  our  ancestors. 

"  In  common  cases  of  humanity  we  would  blush  at  such 
an  absurdity.  No  man  would  justify  murder  by  its  anti- 
quity, or  stigmatize  benevolence  for  being  novel.  The 
genealogist  who  should  emblazon  the  one  as  coeval  with 
Cain,  or  stigmatize  the  other  as  upstart  with  Howard, 
would  be  disclaimed  even  by  the  most  frantic  partisan  of 
aristocracy.  This  Gothic  transfer  of  genealogy  to  truth 
and  justice  is  peculiar  to  politics.  .  .  .  Justice  and  liberty 
have  neither  birth,  youth,  race  or  age.  It  would  be  the 
same  absurdity  to  assert  that  we  have  the  right  to  freedom 
because  the  Englishmen  of  Alfred's  reign  were  free,  as 
three  and  three  are  six  because  they  were  so  in  the  reign 
of  Ghengis  Khan."  ^ 

Mackintosh  perceived  with  very  clear  vision  that  radi- 
calism must  face  the  future  rather  than  the  past.  In  this 
matter  he  even  out-radicaled  Thomas  Paine,  for  Paine, 
though  rarely  rivaled  in  independence  of  spirit,  thought 
it  wise  to  justify  freedom,  not  indeed  from  Alfred's  reign, 
but  from  an  even  earlier  period,^  while  the  pages  of  other 
radical  writers  bristle  with  inferences  and  arguments 
drawn  from  the  reigns  of  King  Alfred  and  Henry  VII, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  glorious  revolution  of  1688,  to  the 
befuddling  of  their  thought  and  the  weakening  of  their 
argument. 

Mackintosh,   then,   wasting  no  time   in   appeals  to   an- 

^  Vindiciae  Gallicae,  p.  304. 

2  Paine,  Works,  ii,  304.  Paine  said  that  the  only  trouble  with  those 
who  argued  from  history  about  the  freedom  of  man  was  that  they 
did  not  go  far  enough  back  in  history.     He  himself  began  with  Adam. 


99]  THE  RADICAL  CREED  on 

tiquity,  outlines  the  radical  position.  It  is  not  a  matter  of 
theory  at  all,  he  argues;  certain  abuses  exist  in  Great 
Britain;  they  should  be  done  away  with.  Our  complaints 
are  not  chimerical.  The  point  at  issue  is  simply  a  question 
of  fact.  We  are  boldly  challenged,  he  says,  "  to  produce 
our  proofs.  .  .  .  Most  unfortunately  for  us.  most  unfor- 
tunately for  the  country,  these  proofs  are  too  ready  and 
too  numerous.  .  .  .  We  find  them  in  that  monumental 
debt  the  relique  of  waste  and  unprofitable  wars.  We 
find  them  in  the  black  and  bloody  list  of  persecuting  sta- 
tutes that  are  still  suffered  to  stain  our  code.  We  find 
them  in  the  ignominious  exclusion  of  great  bodies  of  our 
citizens  from  public  trusts."  ^  And  to  complete  the  list  of 
abuses  which  Mackintosh  enumerates,  he  mentions  the 
criminal  code;  the  lack  of  representative  government;  the 
efforts  to  suppress  and  stifle  public  opinion;  The  Test  Act, 
and  all  anti-Catholic  laws ;  the  remnant  of  feudalism  still 
extant  in  Scotland;  and  finally  the  excise  laws,  which  he 
claimed  greatly  hindered  the  manufacturing  interests. 

The  "Vindications"  were  published  in  April,  1791.  Mack- 
intosh was  at  that  time  twenty-six  years  old.  No  special 
success  had  hitherto  attended  his  life.  His  father,  too 
poor  to  educate  the  boy  for  the  Bar,  assisted  him  in  ob- 
taining a  medical  degree,  but  at  Edinburgh,  Mackintosh  was 
more  interested  in  philosophy  and  politics  than  in  medicine. 
He  drifted  to  London,  attended  political  meetings,  and 
wrote  this  reply  to  Burke.  It  proved  to  be  the  making  of 
Mackintosh.  The  "  Vindications  "  went  through  three  edi- 
tions within  the  year,  and  a  generous  publisher  willingly 
paid  the  author  several  times  over  the  thirty  pounds  bar- 
gained for.  Employment  came  immediately  in  the  news- 
paper world.  The  admiration  of  Mackintosh  for  the  French 
Revolution,  however,  soon  waned.   He  became  a  lawyer  and 

1  Vindiciae  Gallicae,  passim. 


lOO  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [iqo 

a  prominent  government  official,  and  we  find  him  on  good 
terms  with  Burke.  In  fact,  in  1797,  he  pubhcly  denounced 
the  principles  of  the  revolution,  but  nevertheless,  through- 
out a  long  public  life,  he  remained  in  practice  steadfastly 
on  the  radical  side/ 

If  Mackintosh  gives,  with  charming  literary  apprecia- 
tion, an  epitome  of  the  radical  spirit,  the  definite  practical 
application  of  radicalism  to  social  reform  appears  more 
prominently  in  the  writings  of  another  author. 

Part  and  parcel  of  the  radical  attack  came  a  scathing 
denouncement  of  England's  legal  system.  Upon  no  point 
were  the  radicals  more  united.  The  delays  of  the  civil 
procedure;  the  barbarities  of  the  criminal  code;  the  harsh 
and  inhuman  treatment  of  prisoners  attracted  alike  the 
attention  of  all  reformers.  Against  the  stupid  brutalities 
of  the  English  prison,  humanitarianism  arose  in  special 
revolt,  and  upon  that  subject  was  focussed  the  life-long 
efforts  of  John  Howard  and  the  analytical  brilliance  of 
Jeremy  Bentham.  John  Howard's  epoch-making  book, 
"  The  State  of  the  English  Prisons,"  had  been  published 
in  1777,  and  in  1790  the  philosopher  died.  To  do  more 
than  to  mention  his  work  would  exceed  the  limit  of  this 
treatise. 

The  views  of  Bentham  are  explained  in  his  "  Panopti- 
con." ^  This  book  has  borne  the  brunt  of  much  ridicule. 
In  reading  the  first  sentence,  "  Morals  reformed — health 
preserved — instruction  diffused — public  burdens  lightened 
— economy  seated  as  it  were  upon  a  rock — the  gordian  knot 
of  the  poor  laws  not  cut,  but  untied — all  by  a  simple  idea 

'  After  serving  in  an  official  position  in  India,  Mackintosh  became 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  sturdily  resisted  the  re- 
actionary policy  of  the  government  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

2  Bentham,  The  Panopticon,  or  the  Inspection  House,  1791. 


lOl]  THE  RADICAL  CREED 


lOI 


in  architecture,"  we  can  scarcely  doubt  that  the  author 
has  a  somewhat  sanguine  temperament.  We  might  even 
suspect  that  his  plan  was  in  many  respects  chimerical,  and 
so,  to  some  extent,  it  was.  Bentham  is  over-sanguine  about 
his  ideal  prison-house  which,  by  its  construction,  would 
make  light  and  air  possible  in  every  cell,  while  providing 
at  the  same  time  for  the  inspection  of  the  entire  building 
by  one  keeper,  stationed  in  the  centre.  In  this  architectural 
device  as  such  we  have  no  direct  interest.  Indeed,  for  the 
Panopticon  as  a  building  we  care  nothing.  But  it  was 
more  than  a  building.  It  was  a  building  governed  by  cer- 
tain principles.  Those  principles  were  at  once  so  just, 
so  practical,  so  humane,  that  they  cannot  but  command 
our  admiration. 

Four  different  theories  of  Bentham's  regarding  the 
treatment  of  the  prisoners,  particularly  merit  attention. 
First,  he  believed  that  the  prisoner  should  be  rationally 
employed.  The  compulsory  labor  required  should  be  al- 
ways, if  possible,  of  two  different  kinds,  for  variety  would 
make  the  work  less  irksome.  "  Occupation,"  he  said,  "  is 
in  itself  sweet  in  comparison  to  enforced  idleness."  ^  Al- 
though believing  that  work  should  be  compulsory,  Bentham 
would  not  have  it  oppressively  hard.  He  considered  it  bad 
for  all  concerned,  both  financially  for  the  government,  and 
physically  for  the  prisoner.  Financially,  to  employ  prison- 
ers in  beating  hemp,  rasping  logwood  and  chopping  rags 
is  very  uneconomical,  for  the  work  can  be  done  more 
cheaply  by  machines ; "  and  the  prisoner  himself  will  simply 
be  more  brutalized  than  before  by  a  monotonous  routine. 

In  the  second  place  Bentham  demanded  a  decent  food 

^  Bentham,  Works,  iv,  144. 

*  Aside  from  machinery,  animals  could  provide  this  power  better 
than  men,  he  tells  us,  and  in  a  long  footnote  he  discusses  the  use  of 
elephants  in  a  treadmill.     Ihid.,  iv,  145. 


I02  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [102 

supply  for  his  Panopticon.  He  believed  that  not  enough 
food  was  ordinarily  given  for  the  support  of  the  body, 
and  he  quoted  Howard  to  the  effect  that,  in  a  certain 
prison  in  1788,  "everybody  is  sick;  they  always  will  be, 
for  they  are  slowly  starving."  To  prove  the  laxness  of  the 
law  in  this  regard,  Bentham  quoted  from  the  National 
Penitentiary  Code  as  follows :  "  Every  offender  is  to  be 
sustained  with  bread,  and  any  coarse  meat  or  inferior  food, 
and  water  or  small  beer."  "  For  humanity,  for  health  and 
for  comfort,  what  does  this  do?  "  cried  Bentham.  "  Noth- 
ing. In  what  respects  can  the  prisoners  be  the  better  for 
this  article?  None.  What  says  it?  That  the  food  shall 
be  sufficient?  No!  That  it  shall  be  wholesome?  No! 
Not  even  as  much  as  that.  What  then?  That  bread  shall 
form  a  part  of  it.  They  are  to  have  what?  Bread  and 
something  besides.  What  is  that  something  to  be?  Is  it 
to  be  meat  at  all  events  ?  No !  But  either  meat,  so  that  it 
be  coarse,  or  anything  else  whatever,  so  that  it  be  of  an 
inferior  kind !  Inferior  to  what  ?  That  the  statute  has  not 
told  us,  and  it  would  have  been  rather  difficult  for  it  to 
have  told  us."  ^  Great  care  should  be  taken,  says  Ben- 
tham, that  the  law  provide  wholesome  and  sufficient  food. 
Health  also  is  essential.  To  insure  health  we  must  have 
cleanliness.  Bathing  is  to  be  insisted  upon.  Shirts, 
breeches,  blankets  and  sheets  must  be  frequently  laundered. 
Between  physical  and  moral  delicacy  he  assures  us  a  con- 
nection has  been  observed  which,  though  fathered  by  the 
imagination,  is  far  from  being  imaginary.  Washing  is  a 
holy  rite,  and  those  who  dispute  the  spiritual  efficacy  will 
not  deny  its  physical  use.^  Furthermore,  we  must  have 
not  only  cleanliness  but  also  exercise.  To  secure  this  he 
advocated  walking  in  a  wheel  or  treadmill.  This  wheel 
would  be  erected  on  the  outside  of  the  Panopticon  with 

1  Bentham,  Works,  iv,  iS5-  "^  Ihid.,  iv,  158. 


103]  ^^^  RADICAL  CREED  IO3 

covered  flaps  of  canvass  to  pull  down  in  inclement  w^eather. 
Bentham,  indeed,  instructed  his  architects  to  provide  for 
big  windows  in  all  the  cells.  Glass  costs  no  more  than 
stone  walls,  he  wrote,  and  is  far  more  satisfactory.  There 
must  be  also  an  abundant  vv^ater  supply  in  each  individual 
cell ;  and  by  a  very  complicated  heating  plant  an  even  tem- 
perature is  to  be  maintained  throughout  the  year. 

Finally,  Bentham  devised  by  his  plan  a  solution  of  the 
ex-convict  problem.  He  believed  that  convicts  should  have 
four  options  after  serving  a  term  in  the  Panopticon :  ( i ) 
they  might  enter  the  land  service;  (2)  they  might  enter 
the  sea  service  for  life;  (3)  have  security  given  for  their 
good  behavior  by  relatives,  friends  or  bondsmen,  to  whom 
they  should  be  under  certain  obligations;  (4)  enter  a  kind 
of  subsidiary  Panopticon.  This  establishment  would  be 
run  on  the  Panopticon  principle.  It  would,  however,  in- 
sure greater  liberty  to  the  occupant,  though  not  entire  free- 
dom. For  instance,  he  might  marry,  if  he  wished,  and 
carry  on  a  trade  for  which  the  government  would  provide.^ 
It  was  a  cardinal  tenet  of  Bentham's  faith  that  the 
future  of  the  criminal  is  an  obligation  which  society  must 
recognize.  The  criminal  should,  if  possible,  be  reformed, 
and  never  is  he  to  be  treated  like  a  brute. 

The  fact  that  Bentham's  imagination  ran  riot  in  the 
planning  of  details  in  no  way  detracts  from  his  humane  and 
rational  apprehension  of  the  essential  postulates  of  pen- 
ology. Very  dear  to  him  was  this  scheme  of  the  Panop- 
ticon. Although  he  was  writing  several  of  his  most  im- 
portant books  ^  at  this  time,  or  shortly  after,  he  kept 
the  Panopticon  always  in  view,  and  even  after  it  had  been 
partially  adopted  without  success,  Bentham  insisted  that 
the  hatred  of  King  George  was  alone  responsible  for  the 
failure. 

1  Bentham,  Works,  iv,  166. 

«  The  Truth  Against  Ashurst,  wriUen  in  1792,  but  not  published  un- 
til 1822.    A  Protest  against  the  Law  of  Taxes,  published  in  1795. 


CHAPTER  IV 
The  Development  of  the  Radical  Platform    ,;• 

GODWIN  on  property  ;  SPENCE  ON  LAND  NATIONALIZATION  : 
GERRALD  ON   WAR;   FREND  ON   THE   CHURCH;   BAR- 
LOW  ON  THE  ADMINISTRATION   OF  THE  LAW; 
THELWAL  ON  INJUSTICE 

Ti-iE  most  radical  book  of  the  decade  was  written  by  a 
slender  dissenting  minister  of  gentle  manners  and  quiet 
habits.  The  author  was  William  Godwin,  and  his  book  he 
called  "  Political  Justice."  On  its  preparation  was  lavished 
all  the  erudition  and  enthusiasm  which  profound  reading 
and  scholarly  instincts  could  afford. 

Godwin  had  some  years  previously  given  up  the  ministry 
for  uninterrupted  literary  work.  While  at  his  labors  it 
was  his  custom  to  arise  at  five  in  the  morning  and  to 
work  with  constant  assiduity  until  midnight.  He  had  no 
time,  inclination  or  money  for  pleasure,  for  only  with  the 
strictest  economy  was  he  able  to  follow  out  his  plan,  and, 
save  for  the  attendance  of  an  old  woman  to  cook  his  chop, 
he  altogether  dispensed  with  service.  Finally,  in  1792,  the 
child  of  his  brain.  "  Political  Justice,"  made  its  appear- 
ance. It  was  a  large  volume  divided  into  two  books,  con- 
taining a  total  of  somewhat  over  five  hundred  pages.  The 
plan  and  scope  were  surprisingly  extensive,  and  surpris- 
ingly revolutionary  as  well.  In  it  Godwin,  the  ex-clergy- 
man, argues,  and  argues  emphatically,  in  favor  of  a  com- 
plete state  of  anarchy,  with  the  usual  concomitant  condi- 
104  [104 


105]  ^^^"  RADICAL  PLATFORM  Iq- 

tions  that  civil  institutions,  laws,  penalties,  private  prop- 
erty and  government  should  cease  to  be. 

Though  forcefully  and  logically  written,  the  book  had 
comparatively  little  popular  interest.  This  was  due  to 
two  causes.  In  the  first  place,  Godwin's  style,  more  or  less 
desiccated — or,  in  its  most  favorable  light,  extremely  dis- 
passionate— is  not  such  as  would  attract  the  public  imagi- 
nation. He  is  quite  philosophical  throughout ;  never  angry ; 
never  abrupt;  anxious  and  insistent  upon  qualifying  and 
defining  with  scholastic  zeal  his  statements  and  ideals. 
Secondly,  his  book  sold  for  three  guineas.  Three  thousand 
copies  were  shortly  disposed  of,  it  is  true,  and  for  them 
Godwin  received  in  royalties  a  thousand  guineas.  Never- 
theless, this  sale  was  confined  very  largely  to  the  wealthier 
classes.  Poorer  folk  scarcely  knew  of  its  existence,  and 
this  the  government  recognized  for  they  never  brought  an 
action  against  Godwin  or  suppressed  his  book.^  Compared 
with  Godwin,  Paine  was  a  conservative,  but  Godwin,  the 
philosopher,  was  harmless;  Paine,  the  voicer  of  discontent. 
a  dangerous  enemy. 

Uninfluential  though  this  book  was  with  the  great  body 
of  the  nation,  no  survey  of  the  radicalism  of  its  day  would 
be  complete  without  it.  Godwin  had  many  friends  among 
the  younger  radicals ;  indeed,  he  was  one  of  their  number,- 
and  with  his  friends  his  influence  and  prestige  were  not 
negligible.^     Furthermore,  Godwin's  arguments  concerning 

^The  British  Critic  for  July,  1793,  said:  "A  much  heavier  fate  than 
persecution  awaits  him,  and  one  for  which  perhaps  his  mind  is  not 
equally  prepared;  the  worst  that  can  attend  ambitious  authorship  of 
system-making,  neglect.  Two  bulky  quartos  contain  too  much  reading 
to  be  popular;  and  one  pound  sixteen  is  too  serious  a  sum  for  any 
man  to  give." 

2  Godwin,  Political  Justice,  ii,  218. 

'  And  his  influence  was  lasting,  for  Shelley  acknowledged  in  his 
later  years  that  practically  all  of  his  radicalism  had  been  inspired  by 
his  father-in-law. 


Io6  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [io6 

private  property,  closely  knit  and  cogently  stated,  may  well 
be  reproduced  as  embracing  everything  which,  from  the 
radical  viewpoint,  may  be  urged  against  that  institution. 

The  subject  of  private  property,  he  said,  "  is  the  key- 
stone that  completes  the  fabric  of  political  justice."  And 
Godwin  believed  that  the  institution  of  private  property 
was  absolutely  wrong.  In  his  own  words,  "  with  grief 
must  it  be  confessed  that  however  great  are  the  evils  that 
are  produced  by  monarchies  and  courts,  by  the  imposture 
of  priests,  and  the  inequalities  of  the  criminal  law,  all  these 
are  imbecile  and  impotent  compared  with  the  evils  which 
arise  out  of  the  established  administration  of  property."  ^ 

Private  property,  claimed  Godwin,  brought  about  five 
great  evils.  The  first  of  these  was  the  lack  of  an  inde- 
pendent spirit.  "  Accumulation  brings  home,"  he  said, 
"  a  serv^ile  and  a  truckling  spirit."  And  for  illustration 
he  selected  the  fawning  pauper,  the  submissive  servant  and 
the  obsequious  shopkeeper.  "  Observe  the  tradesman,  how 
he  studies  the  passions  of  his  customers,  not  to  correct  but 
to  pamper  them.  The  vileness  of  his  flattery  and  systematic 
constancy  with  which  he  exaggerates  the  merits  of  his 
commodities."  The  age  of  chivalry  is  not  gone.  The  feudal 
spirit  still  survives,  that  reduces  the  great  mass  of  mankind 
to  the  rank  of  slaves  and  cattle  for  the  service  of  a  few.^ 
Tn  the  second  place,  the  constant  projection  of  property 
before  the  vision  of  mankind  as  the  most  desirable  of  all 
objects  led  man  astray  and  perverted  his  judgment.  God- 
win was  pursuaded  that  "  the  ostentation  of  the  rich  per- 
petually goaded  the  spectator  to  the  desire  of  opulence."  ' 
Of  what  use  was  it.  he  argued,  to  instruct  the  child  in  in- 
tegrity and  unselfishness  when,  as  soon  as  he  enters  the 

1  Political  Justice,  ii,  218.     The  reference  to  the  age  of  chivalry  is 
obviously  an  ironical  reference  to  Burke's  use  of  the  term. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  219. 


lO/J  THE  RADICAL  PLATFORM  I07 

world  and  inquires  "  'Why  is  this  man  honored  ?'  the  ready 
answer  is,  '  Because  he  is  rich.'  If  he  inquire  further  why 
he  is  rich,  the  answer  is,  in  most  cases,  from  the  accident  of 
birth,  or  from  a  minute  and  sordid  attention  to  the  cares  of 
gain."  ^  This  glorification  of  property  Godwin  pronounced 
much  more  serious  than  the  swollen  pension  roll  of  the  gov- 
ernment, for  "  hereditary  wealth  "  he  believed  to  be  *'  a 
premium  paid  to  idleness,  an  immense  annuity  expended 
to  maintain  mankind  in  brutality  and  ignorance."  Con- 
tinuing his  argument,  Godwin  held  that  private  property 
retarded  not  only  the  development  of  genius  but  the  growth 
of  intelligence  as  well,  for  property  either  surfeited  those 
who  held  it,  or  by  its  unequal  distribution  compelled  others 
to  spend  their  days  in  sordid  cares.^  The  fifth  charge  in 
the  indictment  was  that  property  created  the  chief  causes 
of  crime;  for  "  the  true  crime,"  he  declared,  "  in  every  in- 
stance is  in  the  selfi-sh  and  partial  propensities  of  men  think- 
ing only  of  themselves,  and  despising  only  the  emoluments 
of  others;  and  of  these  the  rich  have  their  share." 

Since  private  property,  then,  is  wrong  in  theory,  God- 
win proposes  its  abolition.  This,  he  urges,  would  come 
about  by  a  changed  attitude  of  public  opinion.  He  does 
not  desire  or  expect  that  any  compulsion  will  be  necessary."* 
As  an  exceptional  means  the  law  might  be  invoked  for  this 
happy  consummation.  Presumably,  however,  a  revolution 
of  opinion,  and  a  just  estimate  of  wealth,  will  do  it  more 
effectually.  Godwin  does  not  think  that  much  difficulty 
will  be  met  with.     He  reviews,  in  his  ultra-logical  fashion 

1  Political  Justice,  ii,  220.  -  Ibid.,  ii,  221. 

"  Ibid.,  ii,  223.  It  is  characteristic  of  Godwin  that  in  this  matter  of 
the  bearing  of  property  on  crime,  the  whole  question  is  discussed  on 
very  philosophical  grounds,  quite  apart  from  the  interest  of  the  or- 
dinary citizen. 

*  Political  Justice,  ii,  210. 


I08  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [io8 

the  principal  obstructions.  "  The  frailty  of  the  human 
mind,"  he  affirms,  is  more  an  apparent  than  a  real  objec- 
tion. "  To  sell  all  that  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor,"  he 
insists  is  rather  practical.^  For  as  soon  as  the  ideal  changes 
its  character  and  is  transformed,  no  man  will  care  for  pos- 
sessions. 

The  cjuestion  of  permanence  gives  him  no  trouble.  A 
purer  theory  of  happiness  is  going  to  supplant  the  existing 
attitude  of  society.  If  the  equality  sought  for  were  intro- 
duced by  a  magistrate  or  by  authority,  doubtless  it  would 
not  endure.  But  equality  coming  from  general  consent 
has  a  far  more  permanent  value.^  Neither  will  the  allure- 
ments of  sloth  be  a  destructive  influence.  Mankind  will  not 
care  for  as  many  luxuries,  and  furthermore,  inasmuch  as 
everybody  will  do  his  share  of  labor,  but  very  little  time 
will  be  demanded  of  the  individual."  The  further  criti- 
cism of  his  ideas  embodied  in  the  theory  that  the  benefits 
of  luxury  had  increased  the  value  of  our  civilization,  he 
meets  with  the  parry  that  luxury,  while  conferring  benefits, 
does  so  only  temporarily,  and  that  the  transition  stage 
where  that  is  done  is  now  past.  Finally,  when  told  that 
the  destruction  of  property  rights  renders  society  rigid 
and  inflexible,  Godwin  replies  that  he  has  no  notion  at  all 
of  men  eating  in  a  common  hall ;  quite  the  reverse,  for  he 
hoped  that  more,  not  less,  liberty  would  result  from  a 
rational  understanding  of  its  nature. 

Perhaps  no  more  attractive  or  quaint  figure  is  to  be  met 
with  among  the  radical  reformers  than  Thomas  Spence. 
Spence  was  a  one-idea  man,  and  that  idea  was  land  nation- 

1  Political  Justice,  ii,  225.  -  Ibid.,  ii,  229. 

^  Ibid.,  ii,  233.  Godwin  calculated  that  one-half  hour  a  day  employed 
in  manual  labor  by  every  member  of  society  would  sufficiently  sup- 
ply the  whole  with  necessaries. 


109]  ^-^^  RADICAL  PLATFORM  109 

alization.  To  Spence  land  nationalization  and  the  millen- 
nium were  synonymous.  Through  the  storm  and  stress  of 
a  long,  hard  life,  he  clung  with  determination  to  this  ideal; 
and  so  absorbed  was  he  in  this  theory  that  his  friends 
thought  him  more  or  less  childish,^  and  paid  far  less  atten- 
tion to  his  Utopias  than  they  deserved.  The  government, 
on  the  contrary,  believed  him  to  be  a  dangerous  man, 
dogged  his  footsteps  with  spies,  and,  from  time  to  time, 
put  him  in  prison,  a  persecution  which  confirmed  Spence's 
faith  in  the  eternal  justice  of  his  cause. 

Spence  early  in  life  was  a  teacher,  and  a  member  of  the 
Philosophical  Society  of  Newcastle.  Before  this  Society 
he  presented  his  famous  plan  for  social  amelioration  as 
early  as  1775.  Spence  was  promptly  expelled  from  the 
Society."  He  left  Newcastle,  and  settled  in  London  v\diere 
he  set  up  a  shop.  It  was  a  peculiar  shop;  in  it  the  pro- 
prietor earned  his  living  by  selling  salops,  but  his  heart 
lay  in  a  side  line  which  he  carried,  namely,  books.  The 
book  chiefly  recommended  in  the  time  of  the  French 
Revolution  by  this  curious  merchant  was  familiarly  known 
as  "  Spence's  Plan."  ^  In  reality  it  was  nothing  more  or 
less  than  a  reprint  of  his  famous  lecture.  To  circulate  this 
lecture,  or  plan,  extensively,  Spence  was  prepared  to  make 
any  sacrifice.  The  "  Plan  "  was  sold  at  the  ridiculous  price 
of  a  half-penny  per  copy.  For  purposes  of  advertisement 
this  unique  scheme  was  adopted :  copper  medals  were  struck 

^  Wallas,  Life  of  Francis  Place,  p.  62. 

2  According  to  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  liii,  38,  Thomas 
Spence  was  expelled,  not  for  writing  his  lecture,  but  for  hawking  it 
around  the  streets.  Spence  however  claimed  that  he  was  expelled  for 
writing  it,  and  his  position  is  substantiated  by  Davidson  in  his  Land 
for  the  Landless,  p.  6,  and  by  Adler  in  his  Introduction  to  Spence. 

»  The  official  title  was  "  On  the  Mode  of  Administering  the  Landed 
Property  of  the  Nation  as  a  Joint  Stock  Property  in  Parochial 
partnership  by  Dividing  the  Rent." 


no  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [no 

by  the  order  of  Spence,  bearing  on  one  side  the  words, 
"  Spence's  Glorious  Plan  is  Parochial  Partnership  without 
Private  Landlordism,"  while  on  the  other  side  was  en- 
graved, "  This  Plan  will  Produce  Everlasting  Peace  and 
Happiness,  or,  in  fact,  the  Millennium."  These  medals, 
the  same  size  as  copper  pennies,  would,  from  time  to  time, 
be  thrown  from  his  windows  by  the  handful.  They  served 
indeed  to  advertise  his  "  Plan,"  and  also  his  eccentricities. 

According  to  Spence's  scheme  there  was  to  be  no  more 
private  property  in  land.  All  of  Great  Britain,  he  held 
should  be  owned  by  the  people  in  common  instead  of  by 
individuals.  The  title  to  the  soil  was  not  to  rest  with 
the  state,  but  with  the  different  parishes  of  the  United 
Kingdom.  He  proposed  that  a  national  law  should  be 
passed,  by  which,  on  a  day  appointed,  it  might  be  legal  for 
the  inhabitants  of  each  parish  to  meet  and  to  take  pos- 
session of  "  their  long-lost  right  to  the  soil."  "  The  land, 
with  all  that  appertains  to  it,  is  in  every  parish  made  the 
property  of  the  corporation  or  parish,  with  as  ample  power 
to  let,  repair,  or  alter  any  part  thereof  as  a  lord  of  the 
manor  enjoys,  over  his  lands,  houses,  etc. ;  but  the  power 
of  alienating  the  least  morsel  in  any  manner  from  the 
parish  either  at  this  or  at  any  other  time  is  denied."  ^ 

Rent,  however,  is  not  to  be  abolished.  It  is  to  be  paid 
to  the  parish  instead  of  to  the  landlord.  Part  then  is  to 
be  given  to  the  national  government  in  lieu  of  general  tax- 
ation, the  rest  is  to  be  used  by  the  parish  "  in  maintaining 
and  relieving  its  own  poor  and  people  out  of  work;  in 
paying  the  necessary  officers  their  salaries;  in  building,  re- 
pairing and  adorning  its  houses,  bridges  and  other  struct- 
ures; in  making  and  maintaining  convenient  and  delight- 
ful streets,  highways  and  passages,  both  for  foot  and  car- 

'  Spence,  The  Meridian  Sun  of  Liberty,  p.  8.  For  the  parish  to  give 
land  aw  ty,  Spence  maintains,  is  as  horrible  as  selling  children. 


Ill]  THE  RADICAL  FLA  TFORM  1 1 1 

riages;  in  making  and  maintaining  canals  and  otlier  con- 
veniences for  trade  and  navigation;  in  planting  and  taking 
in  waste  grounds ;  in  providing  and  keeping  up  a  magazine 
of  ammunition,  and  all  sorts  of  arms  sufficient  for  all  the 
inhabitants  in  case  of  danger  from  enemies;  in  premiums 
for  the  encouragement  of  agriculture,  or  anything  else 
thought  worthy  of  encouragement."  Once  this  was  ac- 
complished, all  taxation  apart  from  rent  could  be  done 
away  with.  Freedom  of  trade  and  commerce  would  be 
assured,  and  the  bane  of  special  privilege  would  be  lifted 
forever. 

There  were  various  other  features  of  the  scheme.  The 
possibilities  of  his  idea,  indeed,  Spence  elaborated  with 
considerable  fulness  and  naivete.  But  the  story  of  the  re- 
formed parish  of  Bees,  with  its  old  landlords,  Lord  and 
Lady  Drone,  and  all  the  little  Drones,  working  busily  away 
in  their  reformed  life,  is  apart  from  our  purpose.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say,  that  Spence's  theory  is  considered  by  many 
as  the  father  of  the  Henry  George  system  of  the  Single 
Tax. 

As  the  years  went  by  Spence  sold  fewer  salops,  and  more 
books.  By  1793,  his  shop,  apparently,  was  a  bookshop  pure 
and  simple.  He  named  it  the  "  Hive  of  Liberty."  On 
every  publication  going  out  from  his  door  was  inscribed 
the  motto,  "  The  Hive  of  Liberty,  8  Turnstile  Street, 
Holborn."  From  the  "  Hive  "  was  published  throughout 
1793,  1794,  and  1795  the  periodical  "  Pig's  Meat,  or 
Lessons  for  the  Swinish  Multitude."  Also  the  famous 
lecture,  refurbished,  was  published  again  in  1793,  and  still 
once  more  in  1796,  as  "  The  Meridian  Son  of  Liberty."  ^ 
For  this  Spence  went  to  jail.  Nevertheless,  there  appeared 
in   1805,   a  "  Constitution,   or  Spensonian   Declaration  of 

1  George  Adler,  Der  altere  Englische  Soslalismus  und  Thomas 
Spence,  p.  ::?!. 


112  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [112 

Rights."     With  these  ideas  Spence  busied  himself  to  the 
last  day  of  his  life/    He  died  in  18 14. 

The  spirit  of  militarism,  to  their  credit  be  it  said,  was 
condemned  by  all  British  radicals.  None  denounced  it 
with  more  force  and  eloquence  than  Joseph  Gerrald.  Ger- 
rald,  born  of  British  parentage  in  the  West  Indies  in  1763, 
educated  at  the  famous  school  of  Dr.  Parr  in  England,  re- 
turned to  the  West  Indies,  and  drifted  thence  to  Penn- 
sylvania, where  he  studied  and  practiced  law.  In  1788  he 
went  to  England  on  a  legal  mission,  and  there  decided  to 
remain."  His  winning  personality  making  friends  for  him 
everywhere,  it  was  not  long  before  he  leaped  into  promi- 
nence. In  1 793  was  held  the  famous  Edinburgh  Convention 
of  the  British  radical  societies.  Gerrald  was  a  London  dele- 
gate. He  proved  to  be  an  eloquent  speaker  and  it  was 
said  that  "  his  morning  Icvce  at  the  Black  Bull  Tavern  was 
crowded  with  worshippers."  At  this  convention  Gerrald 
and  the  other  leaders  were  arrested.  An  inadequate  and 
most  unfair  trial  v/as  given  them,"  and  Gerrald  himself  was 
transported  to  Australia.  A  victim  of  consumption,  he 
died  five  months  after  his  arrival,  barely  thirty  years  of 
age.' 

1  A  Spcnsonian  song  book  was  published,  which  contains  a  Jubilee 
Hymn.     One  stanza  is  as  follows : 

"  Sing  to  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 
And  pass  around  a  toast, 

To  Tommy  Spence. 
Who  through  great  peril  ran, 
Having  devised  this  plan, 
The  perfect  Rights  of  ]\Ian. 

True   Common   Sense." 
-Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  xxi,  237. 

«  Cockburn,  An  Examination  of  the  Trials  for  Sedition  in  Scotland, 
passim. 

*  Gerrald's  name  may  be  found  engraved  on  the  Calton  monument 
erected  in  Edinburgh  to  perpe'uate  the  memory  of  political  martyrs. 


113]  THE  RADICAL  PLATFORM  II3 

Before  the  convention  met,  however,  which  brought 
about  the  untimely  end  of  the  young  radical,  Gerrald 
had  been  busily  engaged  in  promoting  its  existence. 
To  this  end  he  wrote  a  pamphlet  ^  in  the  form  of  an  open 
letter  to  the  people  of  Great  Britain  on  the  proposed 
convention,  which  had  a  wide  circulation.  It  was  pub- 
lished by  order  of  the  London  Correspondence  Society, 
and  easily  ranks  as  one  of  their  best  propagandist  publica- 
tions. In  this  tract  Gerrald  paid  his  respects  to  war,  and 
to  the  history  of  war.  "  If  we  look  back,"  he  writes,  "  to 
the  wars  which  have  desolated  Europe  for  these  last  three 
hundred  years,  then  these  melancholy  truths  must  strike 
the  most  careless  observer:  that  they  might  have  been  de- 
cided by  negotiations  instead  of  being  decided  by  arms; 
that  they  arose,  not  from  the  jarring  interests  of  the 
people,  but  from  the  ambition  and  avarice  of  courts,  and 
at  the  end  of  each  war,  the  situation  of  the  people  was 
much  worse  than  at  the  beginning  of  it."  "  Gerrald  next 
proceeds  to  illustrate  this  statement  by  a  brief  summary 
of  the  wars  of  England  since  the  revolution  of  1688. 
The  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  he  said,  sacrificed 
150,000  lives,  and  left  England  with  a  thirty  million-pound 
debt.  The  pretext  of  the  war  was  to  give  "  a  king  to  an- 
other people  "  who  did  not  want  him.^  In  the  Spanish 
war  of  1739  "  the  blood  of  British  subjects  was  again 
poured  out  to  maintain  a  Pragmatic  Sanction;  to  preserve 
the  balance  of  power,  and  to  enable  us  to  talk  that  caba- 
listic jargon  which,  while  it  assails  the  ears,  neither  informs 
the  understanding  or  improves  the  condition  of  men.  The 
balance  of  power,  fellow  citizens,  means  nothing  more  than 

^  Joseph  Gerrald,  A  Convention  the  Only  Means  of  Saving  us  from 
Ruin. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  7. 
s  Ibid.,  p.  12. 


114  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [114 

to  extend  the  dominions  and  to  increase  the  revenues  of 
kings,  for  when  did  war  meliorate  the  situation  of  the 
people?  "  ^  In  1756  came  the  next  war.  This  caused  hor- 
rible suffering  "  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Ganges." 
In  Germany,  before  Havana,  and  in  other  places,  thou- 
sands died  for  a  boundary  dispute  that  might  have  been 
settled  by  jury.^ 

Indeed,  Gerrald  claims,  no  war  is  justifiable,  save  on 
grounds  of  self-defense.  Under  the  old  Scottish  law,  he 
continued,  a  king  could  not  make  war  without  the  con- 
sent of  his  people.  In  America,  a  dangerous  dispute  be- 
tween Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  was  settled  in  1784 
by  arbitration.  Why  not  take  advantage  of  these  old-new 
precedents  ? 

England  is  now  engaged,  he  maintained,  in  a  war  of 
aggression.  "  The  opening  of  the  budget,  like  the  opening 
of  the  box  of  Pandora,  will  pour  forth  innumerable  evils 
and  enormous  taxes  upon  the  good  people  of  England.  .  .  . 
A  tax  on  Irish  linen ;  a  tax  on  shoes,  and  upon  a  number  of 
articles  which  constitute  the  necessaries  of  life,  are  to  be 
proposed  and  carried."^  And  for  what?  Simply  that  the 
merry  old  round  may  begin  again. 

There  is  one,  and  only  one,  reason  why  this  state  of 
affairs  should  be.  "  The  great  source  of  evil  is  that  the 
people  of  Europe  have  in  general  as  little  connection  with 
their  respective  governments,  except,  indeed,  as  they  are  the 
objects  of  their  plunder,  as  they  have  with  the  governments 
of  China  and  Japan.  Does  a  gazette  extraordinary,  which 
announces  the  taking  of  a  Conde  or  Valenciennes  enable 
you  to  procure  one  pint  of  beer  or  a  morsel  of  bread  for 
your  helpless,  famishing  children?  Does  the  firing  of 
cannon,  the  illumination  of  shops,  lighten  your  labor,  feed 

1  Gerrald,  A  Convention,  p.  15. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  19.  "  Ihid.,  p.  62. 


115]  ^-^^  RADICAL  PLA TFORM  1 1  - 

your  hunger,  or  clothe  your  nakedness?  ...  I  am  free  to 
confess  that  glory  acquired  by  His  Royal  Highness  of 
York  on  the  plains  of  France  has  no  charms  for  me,  nor 
am  I  delighted  to  hear  that  the  German  eagle,  that  emblem 
of  tyranny  and  massacre,  now  flies  over  the  walls  of  a  town 
where  lately  waved  the  l^anner  of  freedom.  By  war,  kings 
extend  their  dominions  and  increase  their  revenues,  while 
the  inferior  animals  which  have  been  hunting  with  the  lion 
are  amply  rewarded.  ...  by  the  honor  of  having  sweated 
and  bled  in  such  company."  ^ 

War  must  be  abolished,  insists  Gerrald.  We  must  bring 
about  this  reform,  and  a  good  many  others  wdiich  he  enum- 
erates. H  we  do  these  things,  he  contends,  "  the  poor,  who 
are  now  worked  too  hard  and  taught  too  little,  will  have 
their  persons  better  protected,  their  labor  better  rewarded, 
and  their  minds  better  instructed,  and  that  class  of  men — 
the  extremely  indigent — will  soon  cease  to  exist."  " 

In  religious  reform,  few  of  the  younger  radical  school 
were  interested.  While  not  particularly  hostile,  their  gen- 
eral attitude  toward  religion  was  one  of  indifferentism. 
In  their  ranks,  however,  was  one  notable  exception.  Wil- 
liam Frend,  Fellow  of  Cambridge  University,  knew  no 
superior  as  a  sane  and  broad-minded  critic  of  contempor- 
aneous ecclesiastical  abuses.  The  son  of  a  successful 
tradesman,  he  was  sent  early  in  life  to  France,  and  from 
there  to  Quebec,  for  a  practical  business  education.  In- 
different to  commercialism,  his  heart  set  on  scholarship, 
he  entered  Cambridge,  graduated  with  high  rank,^  and 
became  a  clergyman  of  the  Established  Church. 

1  Gerrald,  A  Convention,  p.  75.  *  Ibid.,  p.  117. 

'  So  good  was  his  reputation  as  a  scholar  that  he  was  offered  the 
post  of  tutor  to  Archduke  Alexander  of  Russia,  at  a  salary  of  two 
thousand  pounds  a  year. 


Il6  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [ng 

Doctrinal  differences  very  soon  disturbed  him.  Per- 
suaded at  length  of  the  truth  of  Unitarianism,  he  shortly- 
found  himself  engaged  in  a  conflict  on  behalf  of  greater 
intellectual  freedom.  This  conflict  was  waged  over  the 
University  regulation  which  compelled  all  candidates  for 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  to  subscribe  to  the  thirty- 
nine  articles  of  the  Church  of  England.  To  make  clear 
his  position  in  the  controversy  Frend  published  a  pamphlet/ 
in  which  he  tells  us  that,  as  far  as  the  doctrines  of  the  church 
are  concerned  "  a  young  man  of  twenty  cannot  know 
whether  they  are  right  or  wrong,  and  therefore  the  Uni- 
versity, contrary  to  her  principles  in  other  studies,  obliges 
the  student  to  subscribe  to  things  he  does  not  understand." 

All  university  tests  concerning  religious  faith,  he  averred, 
were  wrong  in  principle.  To  remove  them  altogether 
would  harm  neither  the  Church  nor  the  State.  "  I  deny," 
he  wrote,  "  that  the  church  is  attacked,  and  were  an  attack 
made  on  the  church  I  deny  that  it  would  be  detrimental  to 
the  State.  Would  the  State  be  ruined  if  all  kinds  of  sub- 
scriptions were  removed,  whether  the  subscribers  be  par- 
sons, or  doctors  of  physic;  would  our  soldiers  be  less  cour- 
ageous; would  our  sailors  be  less  dangerous;  would  the 
clergy  be  less  pious ;  would  stocks  rise  and  fall  .  .  .  ,  would 
the  taxes  be  increased?"^  He  saw  no  reason  why  any 
dissenter  should  be  debarred  from  the  university.  No  dis- 
tinction should  be  made  at  all  between  Englishmen  in  the 
matter  of  University  privileges.  Indeed  he  saw  no  reason 
why  religious  qualifications  should  shut  out  a  man  from 
any  civil  office.  That  Howard  the  philanthropist  could 
not  legally  be  made  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  was  to  Frend 

1  William  Frend,  Thoughts  on  Subscriptions  to  Religious  Tests  Par- 
ticularly that  Required  by  the  University  of  Cambridge  for  the  De- 
gree of  Master  of  Arts. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  15. 


117]  THE  RADICAL  PLATFORM  II7 

ridiculous.^  No  good  reason  existed  for  desiring  religious 
uniformity,  anyhow,  for  what  could  be  more  foolish  than 
to  quarrel  over  original  sin;  or  to  object  to  putting  oil  on 
the  head  of  a  sick  man.^ 

Frend  soon  found  himself  an  object  of  suspicion  to  the 
University  authorities,  who  particularly  disliked  ^  his  great 
influence  with  the  undergraduates.*  Meanwhile  his  radi- 
cal opinions  grew  apace.  In  1793  he  published  perhaps  his 
most  important  book.  Its  title,  "  Peace  and  Union,"  indi- 
cated, to  some  extent,  the  idea  of  the  author.  He  believed, 
evidently,  that  by  a  conciliatory  discussion  of  existing  evil 
and  necessary  reform,  it  might  be  possible  to  bring  together 
in  some  kind  of  harmonious  co-operation  the  warring  fac- 
tions in  England's  social  and  political  life,  and  to  that  end 
"  Peace  and  Union  "  was  written. 

In  this  book  Frend  discusses  many  abuses  which  he  per- 
ceived then  rife,  but  upon  none  of  them  was  he  more  level- 
headed than  on  the  abuses  of  the  existing  ecclesiastical  es- 
tablislim.ent.'  Three  reforms  were  advocated :  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  tithing  system;  the  reform  of  the  liturgy;  and 
the  repeal  of  the  Test  Act.  Under  the  tithing  system  the 
general  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  State  is  discussed. 
The  Church  of  England,  he  states,  is  a  political  institution, 
"  for  the  design  of  it  is  to  celebrate  at  certain  times  re- 

^  Frend,  Thoughts  on  Subscriptions,  p.  20. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  29. 

'  S.  T.  Coleridge,  at  that  time  an  undergraduate,  was  among  his 
warmest  friends. 

*  Frend,  Peace  and  Union  recommended  to  the  Associated  Bodies  of 
Republicans  and  Anti-Republicans. 

5  Very  little  attention  was  paid  to  religious  reform  by  the  average 
radical  of  the  younger  school.  As  a  body,  indeed,  it  might  fairly 
be  said  that  they  were  either  Deists  who  thought  but  little  of  organ- 
ized religion,  or  moreover  agnostics  who  thought  any  religion  hardly 
worth  thinking  about.     Kent,  Sketch  of  Radicalism,  p.  130. 


Il8  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [ug 

ligious  worship,  and  to  instruct  the  people  in  certain  doc- 
trines laid  down  by  Parliament."  ^ 

This  political  conection  Frend  distrusted.  He  feared  that 
as  long  as  it  continued,  too  much  authority  would  be  exer- 
cised by  the  politically  influenced  clergymen.  "  Ten  thou- 
sand men  in  black,"  he  explains,  "  under  the  direction  of 
an  individual,  are  a  far  more  formidable  body  than  ten 
times  that  number  in  arms,  and  more  likely  to  produce  the 
greater  injury  to  civil  society."  "  The  granting  of  tithes, 
says  Frend,  appears  to  be  both  "  injurious  to  religion  and 
detrimental  to  the  State."  It  tends  to  make  the  pastor 
independent  of  his  liock.  It  is  unfair  to  the  Non-conform- 
ists. It  retards  the  systematic  development  of  agriculture, 
and  even  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  beneficed  clergy- 
men, it  is  far  from  a  satisfactory  system  of  support.^ 

Secondly,  the  liturgy  of  the  English  Church,  in  Frend's 
eyes,  was  antiquated.  "It  is  far,  indeed,  from  the  stan- 
dards of  purity  in  its  arrangement,  language  or  doctrine, 
which  is  required  from  such  compositions."  * 

Finally,  he  demanded  the  repeal  of  the  Test  .Vet.  The 
attitude  of  the  English  Church  and  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment towards  Non-conformists  was  disgraceful.^  If 
the  disqualifications  under  which  they  lived  were  re- 
moved the  great  Non-conformist  body  of  the  nation 
would  become  more  devoted  to  the  institutions  of  their 
country,  not  less  so.  No  danger  menaced  the  Church 
of  England  from  this  measure  of  justice.  The  great- 
est source  of  the  Non-conformist  strength,  Frend  be- 
lieved, lay  in  the  oppression  to  which  they  were  subjected. 
Take  this  away,  and  the  number  of  dissenters  would  not 

*  Frend,  Peace  and  Union,  p.  Z7-  '  Ibid.,  p.  39. 

'  Frend,  Thottghts  on  Subscriptions  to  Religions  Tests,  p.  16. 

*  Frend,  Peace  and  Union,  p.  41.  *  Ibid.,  p.  47. 


Iig]  THE  RADICAL  PLATFORM  Hq 

materially  increase.  A  few  more  might  hold  office,  that 
was  all.  Something  should  be  done,  and  that  soon,  thought 
Frend,  for  Christianity,  in  his  opinion,  had  made  but  little 
progress  in  fourteen  hundred  years,  and  largely  because  of 
ecclesiasticism.  Ecclesiastical  courts,  ranks,  titles  and  caste, 
were  all  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  He  would 
render  them  all  extinct.^ 

These  opinions  were  not  suffered  to  go  unpunished. 
Frend,  tried  by  a  University  court,  was  banished  from 
Cambridge.  From  the  action  of  the  University  authorities 
he  appealed  to  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  but  no  satis- 
faction was  granted  him.^  His  University  career  was  now 
virtually  ended.  He  kept  up  a  lively  interest  until  the  end 
of  his  life,  however,  not  only  in  social  reform,  but  also  in 
all  intellectual  agitation  in  England.  Called  "  the  last  of 
the  anti-Newtonians  and  a  noted  oppugner  of  all  that  dis- 
tinguishes algebra  from  arithmetic."  he  found  time  never- 
theless to  write  exhaustively  on  such  diverse  topics  as 
"  Christian  Theology,"  "  The  National  Debt,"  "  The  Slave 
Trade,"  "  Astronomy,"  and  "Ways  and  Means  of  Freeing 
London  from  Smoke."  Frend  died  in  1841,  a  stanch 
radical  to  the  end. 

"  Once  teach  a  man  that  some  are  born  to  command,  and 
others  to  be  commanded,  and  after  that  there  is  no  camel 
too  big  for  him  to  swallow."  ^     These  words  are  taken 

1  Frend,  Peace  and  Union,  p.  54. 

2  Frend  believed  himself  to  be  the  victim  of  a  petty  intrigue,  an  ac- 
count of  which  he  gives  us  in  "A  Sequel  to  the  Account  of  the  Pro- 
ceedings in  the  University  of  Cambridge  against  the  Author  of  a 
pamphlet  entitled  '  Peace  and  Union,'  etc."    London.  1795. 

'  Joel  Barlow,  Advice  to  the  Privileged  Orders,  in  the  Several  States 
of  Europe,  Resulting  from  the  Necessity  and  Propriety  of  a  General 
Revolution  in  the  Principle  of  Government,  London,  1792.  Other  edi- 
tions and  reprints:  Paris,  1792;  New  York.  1792;  London.  1793;  Paris, 
1793;  London,  1795;  New  York,  1796. 


I20  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [120 

from  "  Advice  to  the  Privileged  Orders,"  by  Joel  Barlow. 
They  well  express  the  spirit  of  the  pamphlet  from  which 
they  come;  for  it  traces  back  almost  all  social  and  politi- 
cal discontent  to  what  the  author  calls  "  aristocratic  tyran- 
nies." Here  is  the  fountain  source  of  injustice;  here  is  the 
origin  of  such  meaningless  expressions  as  right  of  conquest, 
compact  between  king  and  people,  and  other  sophistries. 

Aristocratic  tyrannies  are  cherished  and  maintained  in 
many  ways,  "  hence  for  that  reason,  the  arming  of  one  class 
of  our  fellow  creatures  with  the  weapons  of  bodily  destruc- 
tion, and  others  with  the  mysterious  artillery  of  heaven." 
Authority  and  tradition  are  also  evoked  in  their  behalf. 
Barlow  has  as  little  respect  as  Mackintosh  for  authority. 
"  Aristotle,"  he  explains,  "  was  certainly  a  great  politician, 
and  Claudius  Ptolemy  was  a  great  geographer;  but  the 
latter  has  said  not  a  word  of  America,  the  foremost  quarter 
of  the  world,  nor  the  former  of  representative  republics, 
the  resource  of  afflicted  humanity."  And,  he  continues, 
"  since  I  have  brought  these  two  great  luminaries  of  science 
so  near  together  I  will  keep  them  in  company  a  moment 
longer,  to  show  the  strange  partiality  that  we  may  retain 
for  one  superstition,  after  having  laid  aside  another,  though 
they  are  built  on  similar  foundations.  Ptolemy  wrote  a 
system  of  astronomy;  in  which  he  taught,  among  other 
things,  that  the  earth  was  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and 
that  the  heavenly  bodies  moved  around  it.  This  system 
is  now  taught  (to  the  exclusion  by  anathema  of  all  others) 
in  Turkey,  Arabia,  Persia,  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  wherever 
the  doctrines  of  Mohammed  are  taught;  while  at  the  same 
time  and  with  the  same  reverence  the  politics  of  x\ristotle 
.are  taught  at  the  University  of  Oxford.  The  ground  which 
supports  the  one  is  that  the  sun  stopped  its  course  at  the 
command  of  Joshua,  which  it  could  not  have  done  had  it 
not  have  been  in  motion ;  and  the  other,  that  the  powers  that 


12 1 ]  THE  RADICAL  PLATFORM  12 1 

be  are  ordained  of  God.  Mention  to  a  Mussulman  the 
Copernican  system,  and  you  might  as  well  speak  to  Mr. 
Burke  about  the  rights  of  man ;  they  both  call  you  an 
atheist."  ' 

Aristocratic  tyrannies,  indeed,  are  perpetrated  by  every 
wile  which  craft  may  invent,  or  tradition  excuse.  And  the 
survival  in  Europe  of  the  feudal  system,  the  church,  stand- 
ing armies,  customary  administration  of  justice,  and  the 
revenue  and  expenditure  of  European  states  are  given  in 
evidence  by  Barlow  as  proof  of  his  assertions.  The  admin- 
istration of  justice  in  aristocratically  ridden  states  is  es- 
pecially atrocious.  "  If  I  were  able,"  he  writes,  "  to  give 
an  energetic  sketch  of  the  office  and  dignity  of  a  rational 
system  of  jurisprudence,  describe  the  full  extent  of  its 
effects  on  the  happiness  of  men,  and  then  exhibit  the  per- 
versions and  corruptions  attendant  upon  this  business  in 
most  of  the  governments  of  Europe,  they  would  furnish 
one  of  the  most  powerful  arguments  in  favor  of  a  gen- 
eral revolution,  and  afford  no  small  consolation  to  those 
persons  who  look  forward  with  certainty  to  such  an 
event."  ^ 

Justice,  Barlov/  argues,  is  not  concerned  solely  in  re- 
straining vice.  To  prevent  vice  is  a  duty  equally  import- 
ant, and  even  more  sacred  in  character.  Society  should 
give  every  man  a  fair  chance,  for,  he  tells  us,  "  none  can 
deny  that  the  obligation  is  much  stronger  on  me  to  support 
my  life  than  to  support  the  claim  my  neighbor  has  upon  his 
property.  Nature  commands  the  first;  society  the  second." 
Justice  should  take  into  consideration  this  primitive  will 
to  live.  "  Vindictive  justice "  or  punishment  is  but  a 
small  part  of  justice,  for  it  is  subordinate  to  two  other 
principles.     In  the  first  place  justice  should  take  it  upon 

1  Barlow,  op.  cit.,  p.  29.  -  Ibid.,  p.  81. 


122  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [122 

herself  to  instruct  everyone.  "  not  only  in  the  artificial 
laws  by  which  property  is  secured,  but  also  the  artificial 
industries  b}'  which  it  is  obtained."  Secondly,  if  the  indi- 
vidual is  a  weakling,  mentally  deficient,  or  in  other  ways 
unable  to  look  out  for  himself,  justice  rests  under  an  obli- 
gation to  protect  him.  Only  in  the  last  extremity  is  pun- 
ishment to  be  inflicted. 

The  administration  of  justice  should  be  based  upon  these 
principles.  The  actual  practice  is  quite  different.  *'  In 
England  the  people  at  large  are  as  perfectly  ignorant  of 
the  acts  of  Parliament  after  they  are  made  as  they  possibly 
can  be  before.  They  are  printed  by  one  man  only,  who  is 
called  the  king's  printer — in  the  old  German  characters 
which  few  men  can  read — and  sold  at  a  price  that  few  can 
afford  to  pay.  But  lest  some  scraps  of  comments  upon 
them  should  come  to  the  people  through  the  medium  of 
the  public  newspapers,  every  such  paper  is  stamped  with 
a  heavy  duty;  and  an  act  of  Parliament  is  made  to  prevent 
men  from  lending  their  papers  to  each  other;  so  that  not 
one  person  in  a  hundred  sees  a  newspaper  once  in  a  year. 
If  a  man  at  the  bottom  of  Yorkshire  discovers  by  instinct 
that  a  law  is  made  which  is  interesting  for  him  to  know, 
he  has  only  to  make  a  journey  to  London,  find  out  the 
king's  printer,  pay  a  penny  a  page  for  the  law,  and  learn 
the  German  alphabet.  He  is  then  prepared  to  spell  out  his 
duty."  ' 

The  laws  are  complicated.  They  are  expensive.  Fur- 
thermore, the  very  form  and  method  employed  in  present- 
ing a  case  for  trial  is  unsystematic  and  archaic,  "  more  dif- 
ficult to  learn  than  the  construction  of  the  most  compli- 
cated machines,  or  even  the  motions  of  the  heavenly 
bodies."     To  illustrate  this.  Barlow  traces  the  history  of  a 

^  Barlow,  op.  cit.,  p.  95. 


123]  THE  RADICAL  PLATFORM  123 

case  in  the  court  of  chancery.  "  The  suitor,"  he  says,  "  be- 
gins his  incomprehensible  operation  by  stating  his  claim 
in  what  is  called  a  bill,  which  he  leaves  at  a  certain  office 
belonging  to  the  court,  and  obtains  an  order  for  the  sub- 
poena for  summoning  the  defendant.  This  being  done, 
the  court  requires  the  defendant  to  send  an  attorney  to 
write  his  name  at  another  office  of  the  court.  This  writing 
of  the  name  is  called  an  appearance;  it  answers  no  pos- 
sible purpose  but  that  of  increasing  expenses  and  fees  of 
office,  for  which  it  is  a  powerful  engine.  For  if  the  de- 
fendant does  not  comply,  an  expense  of  thousands  of 
pounds  is  involved.  A  capias,  a  process  for  outlawry,  a 
commission  of  rebellion,  and  an  order  and  commission  for 
sequestration  are  pursued  in  their  proper  routine  till  he 
consents  to  write  his  name."  ^ 

The  first  step  is  over.  The  defendant  has  at  last  written 
his  name.  Once  that  is  done,  he  is  entitled  to  a  delay. 
During  this  delay  he  makes  a  demur  or  answer;  at  the  ex- 
piration of  the  days  of  grace  four  more  weeks  are  given 
him.  "  But  though  he  is  entitled  to  this  further  delay,  and 
neither  the  plaintiff  nor  the  court  can  refuse  it.  still  he  must 
employ  a  solicitor  to  make  a  brief  for  counsel,  and  this 
solicitor  must  attend  the  counsel,  and  give  him  and  his  clerk 
their  fees  for  moving  the  court  for  this  delay,  which  can- 
not be  refused.  The  counsel  must  attend  the  court  and 
make  the  motion ;  the  solicitor  must  attend  the  court,  and 
pay  for  the  order,  entry  and  copy,  and  then  must  cause  it  to 
be  served."  ^ 

After  the  four  weeks  have  passed  the  defendant  may 
have  another  delay  of  three  weeks,  and  after  that  another 
one  of  two.  Both  of  these  respites  must  be  applied  for  in 
the  way  we  have  outlined.     Furthermore,  this  method  as 

1  Barlow,  op.  cit.,  p.  104.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  105. 


124  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [124 

described  may  be  much  further  involved  by  "  motions,  pe- 
titions, decrees,  orders,  etc.,  for  amending  the  bill,  for  re- 
ferring to  masters  the  insufficiency  of  answers,  reports 
upon  those  answers,  and  further  answers,  and  exceptions 
to  masters'  reports  and  orders  and  decisions  relative  to 
them."  ' 

Barlow  then  rapidly  summarizes  the  fortunes  of  a  bill 
in  chancery  by  stating  that  "  to  proceed  through  all  the 
forms  to  the  end  of  a  suit  in  chancery  would  be  to  write  a 
commentary  on  many  volumes  of  practice,  and  would  be 
calling  the  patience  of  the  reader  to  a  trial  from  which  it 
certainly  would  shrink.  But  there  are  parts  as  much  worse 
than  what  we  have  described  as  this  is  worse  than  common 
sense.  Strip  from  the  administration  of  justice  the  forms 
that  are  perfectly  useless  and  oppressive,  and  counsellors 
will  have  much  less  to  do ;  while  the  whole  order  of  attor- 
neys and  solicitors  will  fall  to  the  ground." 

The  author  of  this  tract  was  an  American.  Graduated 
with  distinction  from  Yale  in  1778,  he  served  as  chaplain 
in  Washington's  army.  After  the  war  he  wrote  poetry  of 
some  little  merit,^  and  became  an  editor  of  the  American 
Mercury.  In  1788  Barlow  was  appointed  European  agent 
of  the  Scioto  Land  Company.  Going  to  France  he  received 
a  hearty  welcome.  There  were  many  buyers  for  his  land, 
and  Barlow  himself  was  lionized  in  Paris. 

In  London,  too,  he  was  a  familiar  figure.  Member  of 
the  London  Constitutional  Society,  he  took  an  active 
part  in  the  propaganda  which  the  Society  carried  on.^ 
In  London  he  wrote,  "  The  Address  to  the  Privileged 
Orders."  The  author  was  proscribed  by  the  government. 
His  private  letters  were  intercepted,  and  he  himself  fled  to 

1  Barlow,  op.  cit.,  p.  107. 

2  Tyler,  The  Literary  Strivings  of  Joel  Barlow,  passim. 

3  State  Trials,  xxiv,  526,  527. 


125]  THE  RADICAL  PLATFORM  125 

France.  Mrs.  Barlow  wrote  him  there  from  England  in 
1793  that  "  Mr.  Burke  makes  honorable  mention  of  you  in 
Parliament.  Sometimes  he  calls  you  the  Prophet  Joel."  ^ 
Both  in  England  and  in  America,  indeed,  Barlow  and  his 
book  were  widely  known.  In  London,  also,  Barlow  wrote 
"  The  Conspiracy  of  Kings,"  a  poem.  It  was  a  brief,  and 
to  the  eighteenth  century  imagination,  a  stirring  produc- 
tion, suitable  for  insertion  in  newspapers  and  broadsides. 
It  was  said  to  have  been  more  popular  in  England  than  the 
"  Advice  to  the  Privileged  Orders."  " 

The  versatile  American  now  turned  to  other  occupations. 
In  1796  he  undertook  a  mission  to  the  Barbary  States  for 
the  United  States  Government.  Returning  to  Paris,  he 
continued  his  business  career,  made  a  fortune,  and  took 
a  deep  interest  in  the  invention  of  the  steamboat,  conduct- 
ing experiments  with  Fulton  on  the  Seine.  He  then  went 
back  to  America,  bought  a  country  seat  near  Washington, 
and  continued  his  experiments  in  steam  navigation,  while 
entertaining  Jefferson  and  many  other  prominent  poli- 
ticians. In  181 1  Barlow  once  more  crossed  the  ocean  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce.  In  search  of  Napoleon, 
he  traveled  to  Poland,  and  died  there  in  18 13. 

Friend  of  Coleridge,  Thomas  Paine  and  Wordsworth; 
poet,  philosopher,  economist  and  patriot.  John  Thelwal 
stands  pre-eminent  among  his  fellow-radicals  as  a  de- 
nouncer of  abuses  in  the  industrial  and  economic  life  of  the 
nation. 

Struggling   like   so   many   of   his   contemporaries    with 

1  Todd,  Life  and  Letters  of  Joel  Barlow,  p.  89.  Jefferson  wrote  to 
Barlow :  "  Be  assured  that  your  endeavors  to  bring  the  trans- Atlantic 
world  into  the  world  of  reason  are  not  without  their  effect  here." 
John  Adams  mentions  Barlow's  book  in  his  third  letter  on  Government 
to  John  Taylor,  1814. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  90. 


126  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [126 

early  adversity,  he,  too,  ultimately  found  himself  in  litera- 
ture. Poet  of  a  somewhat  conventionalized  type  in  1787, 
Thelwal,  by  the  early  nineties,  was  swept  headlong  into  the 
radical  current.  No  half-hearted  convert  was  he.  From 
1792  till  the  end  of  his  career,  his  life  was  given  over  with 
singular  zeal  and  perseverance  to  the  cause  of  radicalism. 
As  a  lecturer  and  as  a  pamphleteer,  as  a  campaigner  and 
as  an  editor,  his  work  was  invaluable. 

The  government  feared  him  mightily.  No  other  radical 
writer  was  watched  more  closely.  He  seemed  equally  dan- 
gerous to  the  authorities  either  as  a  fiery  orator  of  the 
London  Corresponding  Society,  or  as  editor  of  the  vitriolic 
Tribune.  Driven  from  pillar  to  post;  tried  for  high  trea- 
son; permanently  deprived  of  his  manuscripts  and  books; 
beaten  and  assaulted  by  hired  thugs;  he  yet  persisted  un- 
dauntedly on  his  chosen  path. 

For  this  continual  persecution  Thelwal  himself  was  in 
part  responsible.  Possessed  of  a  store  of  invective  com- 
parable to  that  of  Burke  or  Paine,  he  was,  as  Paine  never 
was,  an  orator  of  considerable  power.  Furthermore,  he 
was  without  fear.  Legally  debarred  from  discussing  poli- 
tics, Thelwal  immediately  lectured  on  the  psychology  of 
the  laws  of  freedom  and  the  love  of  the  fair  sex.  In  this 
lecture,^  for  purposes  of  illustration,  the  position  of  the 
king  rooster  in  the  farmyard  was  freely  and  pointedly  ex- 
plained. No  one  doubted,  or  could  doubt,  the  innuendo 
implied  by  the  King  Chanticleer,  who  lost  his  life  by  strut- 
ting about  a  little  too  proudly,  with  "  his  ermine  spotted 
breast."  Largely  as  a  result  of  this  lecture  came  his  trial 
for  high  treason.^ 

1  The  Story  of  the  Farmyard  was  published  by  Eaton  in  his  Politics 
for  the  People;  Cestre,  Life  of  Thelwal,  p.  78. 

'  The  indictment  for  high  treason  read  in  one  place,  "A  very  fine, 
majestic  animal,  the  game  cock,  meaning  our  lord  the  King,"  etc. 


127]  ^^^  RADICAL  PLATFORM  1 27 

Thelwal  soon  devised  a  better  way  to  accomplish 
his  purpose  than  by  lectures  on  psychology.  He  would 
lecture  on  ancient  history  and  to  that  end  published 
the  prospectus  ^  of  a  series  of  Lenten  lectures.  In  this 
prospectus  the  way  in  which  the  law  is  to  be  circum- 
vented is  clearly  indicated.  First  the  law  is  quoted, 
then,  v.-rites  Thelwal,  "all  ...  .  that  the  lecturer  or 
debater  is  enjoined  from  doing  by  this  act  of  Parliament  is 
to  avoid  all  mention  of  this  country,  its  grievances,  its  laws, 
its  constitution,  government  and  policy,  and  provided  he 
does  this — which  most  certainly  I  shall  do — he  may  dis- 
cuss the  principles  of  liberty  and  justice,  and  expose  all  the 
vices  and  horrors  of  tyranny  and  usurpation."  ^  A  sentence 
from  Rapin,  an  eighteenth  century  historian,  might  con- 
demn the  orator  to  a  penalty  of  a  hundred  pounds,  says 
Thelwal,  but  if  the  story  of  Greece  or  Rome  is  substituted 
for  modern  England,  the  facts  recorded  by  Thucydides, 
Sallust  and  Tacitus  may  be  expatiated  upon  with  impunity.^ 

These  lectures  created  great  excitement.  They  must  have 
been  widely  popular.'^  Thelwal  was  soon  able  to  charge  one 
shilling  a  night,  instead  of  sixpence,  his  early  price.  He 
said  that  the  great  expense  of  buying  books,  hiring  halls, 
etc.,  made  that  step  necessary.  Great  difficulty  was  indeed 
experienced.  At  times  his  bills  of  advertisement  were  torn 
dovvai  as  quickly  as  posted,  while  hired  rioters  frequently 
made  the  delivery  of  his  lecture  impossible.* 

At  times  he  barely  escaped  personal  injury.  While  lec- 
turing  at  Yarmouth   on   Classical   History,    according   to 

*  A.  Prospectus  of  a  Course  of  Lectures  to  he  given  every  Monday, 
Wednesday  and  Friday,  during  the  ensuing  Lent,  in  strict  conformity 
with  the  restrictions  of  Mr.  Pitt's  Convention  Act." 

2  Ibid.,  p.  18. 

'  The  first  lecture  of  a  series  planned  on  "  The  Moral  Tendencies  of 
a  System  of  Spies  and  Informers"  went  through  four  editions  by  1794. 

*  Cestre,  op.  cit.,  p.  81. 


128  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [128 

Thelwal,  certain  clergymen  and  militia  officers  on  the  first 
two  evenings  attempted  to  create  a  distrubance,  with  the 
assistance  of  noisy  boys,  who  were  paid  by  a  naval  officer/* 
He  weathered  this  storm,  but  on  the  following  evening  a 
band  of  about  ninety  armed  sailors  rushed  in  and  attacked 
the  two-hundred-odd  people  in  the  audience.  The  sailors 
assaulted  the  women  and  wounded  many  people  with  their 
cutlasses.  Someone  kicked  over  the  lights.  Cries  of 
"  where  is  the  parson  "  were  heard.  Thelwal  escaped,  but 
was  caught  by  his  enemies,  only  in  turn  to  be  rescued  by  his 
friends.  The  evidence  in  this  fracas  was  very  clear. 
Charges  were  preferred  against  various  individuals,  and 
an  acrimonious  wrangle  ensued  over  the  refusal  of  the 
municipal  government  to  take  action  in  the  matter. 

The  spirit  of  Thelwal's  writings  may  best  be  indicated 
by  his  reply  to  Burke:  "  The  Rights  of  Nature."  ^  In  the 
first  part  of  this  answer  Thelwal  says :  "  We  have  heard 
much  of  the  rights  of  property  and  of  the  rights  of  nations, 
and  of  the  rights  of  man  we  have  heard  some  things  well 
worth  serious  consideration.  Much  also  have  we  heard  of 
the  rights  of  the  peerage,  the  rights  of  Parliament,  and  of 
the  rights  of  the  crown.  But  let  us  for  once  inquire  into 
the  rights  of  the  laborer."  ^ 

Thelwal  wrote  that  progress  came  not  from  the  intel- 
lectual stimulus  of  philosophers  and  philanthropists,  no 
matter  how  clear-thinking  they  might  be,  but  rather  from 

1  Thelwal,  An  Appeal  to  Popular  Opinion  on  Kidnapping  and  Mur- 
der, including  a  narrative  of  the  late  atrocious  proceedings  at  Yar- 
mouth, p.  21. 

Another  meeting  of  Thelwal's  was  broken  up  by  soldiers  in  1797. 
This  was  at  Norwich.  A  Topographical  and  Historical  Account  of 
the  City  and  County  of  Norwich,  p.  252. 

2  Thelwal,  The  Rights  of  Nature  against  the  Usurpation  of  Estab- 
lishments, a  series  of  letters  in  reply  to  Edmund  Burke. 

=•  Ibid.,  p.  77. 


129]  ^^^  RADICAL  PLATFORM  1 29 

the  inarticulate  body  of  the  nation  which,  maddened  to  the 
point  of  fury  by  wrongs  endured,  demanded  a  new  life. 
"  Hume's  commentaries,"  he  observed,  "  slept  for  thirty 
years,  and  the  Utopia  for  whole  centuries  on  the  shelves  of 
the  learned,  and  even  the  popular  language  of  Thomas 
Paine  would  not  have  provoked  any  alarming  discussion 
had  not  the  general  condition  of  mankind  predisposed  them 
to  exclaim  '  we  are  wretched;  let  us  inquire  the  cause.'  " 

The  basic  cause  of  social  distress,  Thelwal  asserted 
roundly,  was  the  unequal  distribution  of  property  in  Great 
Britain.  Conditions  in  the  workhouses,  he  exclaims,  are 
altogether  similar  to  those  existent  in  the  slave-ridden 
British  colonies,"  and  he  compares,  with  telling  effect, 
these  conditions  with  the  luxury  found  among  the  nobility 
of  England.^ 

This  inequality  was  brought  about  by  several  causes. 
In  the  first  place  there  was  taxation.  This  was  really  much 
more  than  it  was  popularly  supposed  to  be,  for  most  taxes 
were  concealed.  "  You  think  not  of  taxes,"  he  affirmed, 
"  save  when  the  collector  comes  to  your  door.  You  forget 
that  your  stomachs  have  been  gauged  and  your  backs  meas- 
ured by  rates,  by  customs  and  by  excises,  and  that,  eat, 
drink  and  wear  what  you  will,  fifteen  shillings  out  of  every 
twenty  must  go  for  tithes,  or  for  taxes."  * 

1  Thelwal,  Rights  of  Nature,  Part  I,  p.  82. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  34.  Thelwal  took  far  more  interest  in  the  anti-slavery 
movement  than  did  the  average  radical. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  35.  Thelwal  tells  us  of  a  canine  palace  at  Godwood,  erected 
by  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  which  contained  "  a  commodious  kitchen, 
parlours,  diningrooms,  bedrooms,  lying-in  rooms,  and  pleasure  grounds 
for  morning  fun,  pleasure  grounds  for  evening  fun,  baths,  etc." 

*  Ibid.,  Part  II.  p.  94.  Thelwal  indicates  the  taxes  indirectly  paid  by 
the  reader  of  his  pamphlet  by  tracing  the  taxation  of  that  pamphlet 
from  the  tax  paid  on  the  rough  timber  to  that  paid  on  the  warehouse 
of  the  publisher. 


I30  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [130 

Many  other  complaints  were  made  against  the  economic 
organization  of  society.  A  very  unfair  custom  of  fining 
the  workmen  existed  in  the  textile  trade.  There  were  em- 
ployers "  who  took  the  liberty,  when  the  work  was  brought 
to  them,  to  scotch  the  spinners  (as  it  is  called),  at  their 
own  will  or  pleasure."  This  arbitrary  power,  Thelwal  be- 
lieved, was  the  result  of  monopolies.  They  must  be 
checked,  for  increased  production,  unaccompanied  by  just 
distribution  is  a  mockery.^  This  just  distribution  Thelwal 
thought  would  come  in  time,  through  the  very  accumulation 
of  property,  which  was  thus  not  an  unmixed  evil.  He  dis- 
tinctly forecast  the  coming  of  the  trade  union  as  the  result 
of  men  working  together  in  large  groups.^ 

No  man  perceived  more  clearly  the  significance  of  eco- 
nomic fact.  That  his  portrayal  should  be  perfervidly 
rhetorical  is  unfortunate,  but  not  surprising.  If  he  chooses 
to  speak  of  "  oppression  heaped  upon  oppression,  till  it 
overtops  Olympus,"  ^  or  of  "  the  proud  vaults  and  splendid 
charnal  houses  of  illustrious  ancestry,"  *  he  merely  fol- 
lowed the  literary  usage  of  his  day,  and  the  precedent  of 
that  master  mind,  the  champion  of  conservatism,  who  is 
held  even  now  as  a  great  master  of  English  diction.  These 
faults  we  may  forgive  in  John  Thelwal,  because  he  fought 
bravely  for  the  right  as  he  saw  it. 

1  The  Tribune,  ii,  34.  These  scotchings,  or  deductions,  made  on 
various  pretexts,  amounted  sometimes  to  one-quarter  of  the  full  value 
of  the  work.    Quoted  from  Cestrc,  op.  cit.,  p.  163. 

"^  Thelwal.  Rights  of  Nature,  Part  I,  p.  19. 

3  Ibid.,  Part  I,  p.  61. 

*  Ibid.,  Part  II,  p.  98. 


CHAPTER  V 

Radicalism  and  Political  Reform 

annual  parliaments  and  universal  suffrage  the 

ultimatum.    doctrinnaire  theories  of  the 

radical  reformers 

All  radical  writers  advocated  political  reform;  it  was 
perhaps  the  first  article  of  their  creed.  They  were  both 
vociferous  and  repetitious  in  urging  its  necessity.  Nor 
was  their  arraignment  of-  existing  political  conditions  lack- 
ing in  vigor.  Said  Paine,  apropos  of  the  monarchy :  "When 
extraordinary  power  and  extraordinary  pay  are  allotted 
to  any  individual  in  a  government,  he  becomes  the  centre 
around  which  every  kind  of  corruption  generates  and 
forms.  Give  to  any  man  a  million  a  year,  and  add  thereto 
the  power  of  creating  and  dispersing  places  at  the  expense 
of  a  country,  and  the  liberties  of  that  country  are  no  longer 
secure."^  Said  Gerrald,  on  the  subject  of  representation: 
"  There  are  not,  there  cannot  be,  more  than  two  kinds  of 
representation :  persons  and  property.  But  the  present  sys- 
tem represents  neither.  Persons  are  not  represented  because 
5,723  persons  who  are  influenced  as  we  have  seen  by  a 
much  smaller  number  return  a  majority  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  though  the  adult  males  throughout  Great  Britain 
amount  to  one  hundred  twenty-five  thousand.  Property  is 
not  represented,  for  the  County  of  Cornwall,  one  of  the 
poorest  in  the  sixty-two,  sends  forty-five  members  to  Par- 

1  Paine,  Rights  of  Man,  Part  II,  p.  408. 
131]  131 


132  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [132 

liameiit.  while  the  County  of  Middlesex,  which  contains 
the  greater  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  kingdom,  sends  only 
eight.  In  some  boroughs  the  man  who  boils  a  pot  has  the 
privilege  of  voting  for  a  member  of  Parliament,  though 
he  who  possesses  a  hundred  thousand  pounds  in  the  funds 
has  not."  ^  A  tempting  opening  in  the  Tory  armor  was 
this  state  of  political  Britain,  and  the  reformers  with  one 
accord  laid  bare  whatever  scandals  they  could  find  therein. 

As  to  the  precise  direction  which  political  reform  should 
take  there  was  not  the  same  unanimity.  The  more  cautious 
among,  them  contended  for  a  reform  on  the  basis  of  Pitt's 
proposals  of  the  year  1785.  The  fact  that  Pitt  then  recog- 
nized the  need  of  reform  was  loudly  proclaimed  by  all 
radicals  alike,  as  substantiating  their  claim  that  the  Plouse 
of  Commons  was  not  truly  representative  of  the  people. 
Few,  however,  were  content  with  Pitt's  moderation.  The 
Rev.  Charles  Wyvill  maintained  that  Pitt's  plan  "was  a 
wise  proposal  and  well  adapted  to  the  state  of  public  opin- 
ion in  1785.  .  .  .  But  since  that  time  the  denial  of  re- 
dress and  a  long  protracted  discussion  had  produced  their 
usual  effects.  Upon  the  subject  of  constitutional  rights 
the  ideas  of  the  public  had  been  expanded,  and  a  more 
extensive  redress  is  sought  for  in  many  parts  of  England 
and  through  Scotland  than  Mr.  Pitt's  original  plan  pro- 
posed." ^ 

Wyvill  was  willing  that  the  great  factory  towns  should 
be  adequately  represented.  He  approved  of  extending  the 
franchise  to  the  middle  class,  but  for  him  no  universal 
suffrage.  Listen  to  his  argument:  "For,  should  the  right 
of  universal  suffrage  be  now  granted,  who  could  for  a 
moment  doubt  that  in  quiet  times  our  profligate  population 

'  Gerrald,  A  Convention,  p.  102. 

^  Christopher  Wyvill,  A  State  of  the  Representation  of  the  People  of 
England,  p.  2y. 


133]  RADICALISM  AND  POLITICAL  REFORM  joo 

would  be  submissive  and  venial ;  that  their  submission  and 
veniality  would  increase  the  preponderance  of  the  great 
and  destroy  the  salutary  influence  of  those  disinterested 
and  independent  men  Vv'ho  are  chiefly  to  be  found  in  the 
middle  class  of  mankind. '  And,  in  times  of  national  dis- 
tress and  discontent,  it  can  admit  of  as  little  doubt  that 
artful  demagogues  might  soon  inflame  the  passion  of  the 
populace  to  a  wild  and  ferocious  rage  for  liberty ;  and  thus 
raise  a  hurricane  by  which  society  would  too  probably  be 
overturned  to  its  deep  foundations."  By  and  by,  con- 
tinues the  author,  perhaps  we  might  approach  with  reason 
and  religion  working  in  harness  "  the  simplicity  and  purity 
of  our  forefathers,"  and  if  we  ever  thus  w^on  back  the  inno- 
cence and  integrity  of  primitive  times  then,  and  then  only, 
might  we  have  universal  suffrage. 

A  majority  of  the  radicals  did  not  draw  their  inspira- 
tion from  Pitt;  they  found  it  rather  in  a  certain  letter 
written  in  1783  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond.  The  reformers 
were  thoroughly  conversant  with  this  letter.  Its  principles 
were  quoted  and  incorporated  in  their  various  pamphlets 
and  appeals.  It  was  cited  by  their  leaders  as  important  tes 
timony  in  the  criminal  trials  in  which  they  were  defend- 
ants, while  even  the  duke  himself  was  summoned  to  Old 
Bailey  that  he  might  testify  to  his  authorship.^  In  this 
letter  Richmond  declared,  "  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that,  from  every  consideration  which  I  have  been  able  to 
give  to  this  great  subject.  ...  I  am  more  and  more  con- 
vinced that  the  restoring  of  the  right  of  voting  universally 
to  every  man  not  incapacitated  by  nature  for  want  of 
reason,  or  by  law  for  the  commission  of  crimes,  together 
with  annual  Parliaments,  is  the  only  reform  that  can  be 
effectual  and  permanent.    I  am  convinced  that  it  is  the  only 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  1048. 


134  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [134 

reform  which  is  practical."  ^  Half-way  measures,  he  main- 
tained, would  do  no  good.  The  weight  of  corruption  was 
too  heavy ;  the  people  at  large  must  cleanse  their  o\vn  house, 
and,  continues  the  duke,  "  I  am  convinced  that  the  only 
way  to  make  them  feel  that  they  are  concerned  in  the  busi- 
ness is  to  contend  for  their  full,  clear  and  indisputable 
rights  of  universal  representation."  To  facilitate  his  re- 
form he  presented  a  bill  in  the  House  of  Lords,  pro- 
viding for  annual  elections  and  for  a  census  of  Great 
Britain,  in  order  to  redistribute  the  seats  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  on  the  basis  of  one  representative  for  approxi- 
mately every  two  thousand  six  hundred  voters. 

If  anybody  remained  in  ignorance  of  the  declaration  of 
Richmond  it  was  not  the  fault  of  the  radicals.  Richmond, 
in  a  measure  the  patron  of  the  London  Corresponding 
Society,  the  leading  radical  organization,  was  quoted  in 
the  publications  of  the  Society.  Also,  in  various  pamphlets, 
his  letter  appeared  in  full,^  while  the  radical  tracts  in  gen- 
eral made  many  references  to  it,^  one  of  them  summarizing 
the  attitude  of  the  radicals  towards  the  duke's  statement 
as  follows :  "  The  plan  offered  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond 
seems  the  only  one  that  has  met  with  public  approbation ; 
and  it  is  clear  that  either  that  or  one  of  a  similar  nature 
upon  the  same  principles  is  the  only  one  that  can  restore 
to  the  people  their  original  and  inherent  rights,  and  a  strict 
and  equal  justice  to  every  individual  in  the  nation.  This 
plan  is  universal  suffrage :  mental  insanity  and  incapacity 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  1049. 

*  Authentic  Copies  of  a  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Englishmen,  a 
Bill  for  a  Reform  in  Parliament,  and  a  Letter  to  JAeiit-Colonel 
Sharman,  by  his  Grace,  the  Duke  of  Richmond. 

Daniel  Holt,  A  Vindication  of  the  Conduct  and  Principles  of  the 
Printer  of  the  Newark  Herald.    Newark,  1794 

8  Daniel  Stuart,  Peace  and  Reform  against  War  and  Corruption,  in 
Answer  to  a  Pamphlet  written  by  Arthur  Young,  entitled,  "  The  Ex- 
ample of  France  a  Warning  to  Britain,"  p.  95. 


135]  RADICALISM  AND  POLITICAL  REFORM  135 

arising  from  public  crime  being  the  only  bar  against  that 
privilege."  ^ 

The  proof  that  this  letter  was  in  large  measure  the  key- 
stone of  the  radical  attitude  on  the  question  of  suffrage 
neither  rests  entirely  on  the  importance  given  to  it  in  the 
radical  tracts,  nor  does  it  depend  upon  the  emphasis  given 
to  it  by  the  radical  clubs  and  associations ;  for  further  indi- 
cations of  the  important  role  it  played  among  the  radicals, 
we  have  but  to  look  at  the  defence  of  Muir,  Daniel  Isaac 
Eaton  and  Thomas  Hardy  when  placed  on  trial  by  the  gov- 
ernment." 

Radicalism,  then,  sought  universal  suffrage  and  annual 
parliaments.  It  cleverly  buttressed  its  demand  by  incor- 
porating in  it  the  expressed  opinions  of  Pitt  and  the  Duke 
of  Richmond.  Its  endeavor  to  demonstrate  that  universal 
suffrage  and  annual  parliaments  were  ancient  rights  of 
Englishmen  was  not  quite  so  strategic.  Forgetful  of 
Mackintosh  and  his  calm  statement  that  political  justice 
does  not  depend  upon  precedent,  the  reformers  sought 
unanimously  to  find  in  the  records  of  antiquity  the  proof 
of  man's  pristine  independence.  A  few  instances  of  this 
reasoning  will  suffice.  Gerrald's  defence  in  Edinburgh  re- 
calls to  us  the  recent  controversies  of  Fustel  de  Coulanges, 
Vinagradoff  and  Maitland.  No  exegesis  of  the  Magna 
Carta  will  suffice  for  Gerrald,  nor  indeed  is  the  Witana- 
gemot  of  our  Saxon  forbears  satisfactory.  He  needs  must 
go  back  to  Tacitus  and  there  discover  the  early  seeds  of  the 
English  constitution, — "De  Gcrmania:  De  Minoribiis  rebus 
principes  consultant,  de  majoribns  omnes — ita  tamen  ut 
ea,  quoq}ie,  quorum  penes  plebenarbitrium  est,  apud  prin- 
cipes protractentur."  ^     Searching  inquiries  were  made  by 

^The  Gulf  of  Ruin,  or  a  Quick  Reform:  which  will  you  Chuse? 
p.  6. 

^  State  Trials,  xxiii,  194,  1044;  xxiv,  915. 

8  State  Trials,  xxiii,  958.  "  I  have  adopted  the  reading  of  Colerus 
and  Aedalius  in  preference  to  the  common  reading  which  is  pertrac- 
tentur"  he  tells  the  jury. 


136  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [136 

other  writers  into  the  purpose  and  intent  of  the  Magna 
Carta  and  the  Parliament  of  1265,  A  lively  controversy 
over  the  interpretation  of  the  latter  event  arose  between 
Arthur  Young  and  Daniel  Stuart.  z\fter  triumphantly 
tearing  to  shreds  the  argument  of  his  opponent,  Stuart 
announces:  "The  existence  of  representatives  of  some 
description  may  be  traced  in  every  page  of  our  his- 
tory, and  is  coeval  with  all  law  and  government  in  Eng- 
land. What  though  they  were  occasionally  laid  aside;  their 
rights  invaded.  ..."  And  he  furthermore  informs  us 
"  wherever  we  find  the  slightest  traces  of  the  House  of 
Commons  .  .  .  there  is  no  mention  of  its  being  a  new  in- 
stitution, which  is  strong  proof  that  it  was  an  old  one."  ^ 
Authorities  ancient  and  modern  are  freely  invoked.  Burke's 
"  Thoughts  on  the  Causes  of  the  Present  Discontent," 
Doctor  Jebb,  Fortescue,  Coke  and  Blackstone  are  made  to 
support  the  radical  contention,  while  a  certain  volume, 
written  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  by  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  entitled  "  De  Republica  an- 
glorum,"  is  quoted  on  his  trial  by  Henry  Yorke,  as  con- 
firming explicitly  his  position  in  regard  to  political  reform." 
From  the  forests  of  Germany  in  the  first  century  to  the 
publication  of  Richmond's  letter  in  the  eighteenth,  the  cup- 
board of  history  was  swept  bare.  No  crumb  lay  hidden 
from  the  radical  broom.   The  voting  privileges,  however,  of 

^  Stuart,  Peace  and  Keform^  p.  86. 

-  "  Atque  ut  concludam  breviter.  quicquid  in  centuriatis  comitiis,  aut 
in  tribunitiis,  populus  Romanus  efficere  potuisset  id  omne  in  comitiis 
Anglicanis  tanquam  in  coelu 

I.  Principem. 

II.  Populumque 

representante,  commode  transigitur,  intercsse  enim  illo  conventu 
omnes  intelligimur  cujuscunque  amplitudinis  status  aut  dignitatis 
princepsve,  aut  Plebs  fuerit,  sive  per  teipsum  hoc  fiat,  sive  per  pro- 
curatorem."  From  the  trial  of  Henry  Redhead,  alias  Henry  Yorke, 
State  Trials,  xxv,  1080. 


137]  RADICALISM  AND  POLITICAL  REFORM  i^y 

our  English  ancestry  are  scarcely  germane  to  this  discus- 
sion. Indeed,  the  rev/ard  vrhich  is  ours  from  their  study,  is 
inversely  proportional  to  the  time  expended.  The  same 
might  be  said  for  those  quixotic  and  doctrinnaire  argu- 
ments in  support  of  annual  Parliaments  and  Universal 
Suffrage.  In  one  case  the  evil  of  the  Rotten  Borough  is 
to  be  remedied  by  the  following  plan :  "  Let  a  list  be  made 
out  of  the  voters  in  every  borough.  And  let  it  be  ordered 
by  Parliament  that  every  borough  not  having  a  thousand 
voters  shall,  out  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  or  hundred 
gradually  raise  them  to  that  number."  ^  This  accomplished, 
it  is  suggested  that  a  return  be  made  to  the  old  Anglo- 
Saxon  system  of  hundreds  and  tithings.  "  Let  the  presi- 
dents of  ten  tithings  select  the  presidents  of  the  hundred; 
the  presidents  of  the  hundred,  the  president  of  the  thou- 
sand, and  so  on.  Each  division  of  ten  thousand  families 
could  send  two  members  to  Parliament,  the  votes  to  be 
taken  by  the  heads  of  tithings,  and  carried  by  them  to  the 
heads  of  hundreds,  to  be  conveyed  to  the  heads  of  thou- 
sands who,  with  the  head  of  the  ten  thousand  should  de- 
clare the  representatives  elected."  ^  If  we  follow  out  this 
scheme,  the  writer  hopes  that  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of 
Alfred's  reign  may  be  restored.  Frend,  the  deviser  of  this 
Utopian  dream,  though  a  clear  thinker  on  other  subjects,  is 
obsessed,  as  were  so  many  of  his  contemporaries,  with  the 
idea  of  indirect  elections.  His  plan  contains  nothing  of 
merit,  save  perhaps  the  intimation  that  a  right  of  referen- 
dum remained  in  the  hands  of  the  people.^ 

The  proposal  of  Gerrald  was  even  more  fantastic.  He 
recommended  the  division  of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  males  in  England  into  twelve  hundred  and 
fifty  primary  assemblies.     Ten  primary  assemblies  made 


*  Frend,  Peace  and   Union,  p.  i6. 

^Ibid.,  p.  20.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  22. 


138  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [138 

one  secondary  assembly.  To  this  body  every  primary  as- 
sembly was  to  send  ten  delegates.  Each  of  the  secondary 
assemblies  would  send  two  deputies  to  a  national  conven- 
tion, which  would  be  in  turn  the  source  of  many  civil  and 
political  blessings.^ 

Various  divergent  theories  were  held  by  other  writers.* 
All  recognized,  however,  that  the  attainment  of  any  reform 
was  more  difficult  than  perfecting  the  details  of  a  theo- 
retical ideal.  Two  methods  of  obtaining  their  general  end 
were  suggested.  At  first  their  hopes  were  set  on  a  petition- 
ing of  Parliament.  As  it  became  more  and  more  evident 
that  this  method  was  useless,  a  national  convention  was  de- 
manded. Paine  stoutly  upheld  the  idea  of  a  convention. 
"  I  have  no  idea  of  petitioning  for  rights,"  he  wrote; 
"  Avhatever  the  rights  of  the  people  are  they  have  a  right 
to  them,  and  none  have  a  right  to  withhold  them,  or  to 
grant  them.  Government  ought  to  be  established  on  such 
principles  of  justice  as  to  exclude  the  occasion  of  all  such 
applications,  for  when  they  appear  they  are  virtually  ac- 
cusations." •''  Boldness  is  what  we  need.  "  Instead  then 
of  referring  to  Rotten  Boroughs  and  absurd  corporations 
for  addresses  or  hawking  them  about  the  country  to  be 
signed  by  a  few  dependent  tenants,  the  real  and  effectual 
mode  would  be  to  come  at  once  to  the  point,  and  to  ascertain 
the  sense  of  the  nation  by  electing  a  national  convention."  * 
This  convention  is  to  be  elected  by  universal  suffrage — 
one  man,  one  vote.  How  it  shall  be  convened,  where  it 
shall  meet,  and  who  shall  summon  it,  we  are  not  told. 

'  Gerrald,  A  Convention,  p.  112. 

'  Among  these  latter  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Major  Cartwright 
is  the  only  one  who  mentions  or  approves  of  woman  suffrage. 
^  Paine,  Address  to  Addressers,  Works,  iii,  81. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  87. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Radicalism  and  the  Economic  Crisis 

monopolies,  luxury  and  the  new  industrialism  as 
the  cause.     vagueness  of  the  proposed  reme- 
dies,   the  intimation  of  the  minimum  wage 

"  The  profit  of  the  world  is  for  all.  The  king  himself 
is  served  by  the  field."  ^ 

This  sentence,  the  most  lucid  one  in  a  long,  rambling  dis- 
course on  the  troubles  of  the  times,  gives  the  keynote  to  the 
economic  demands  of  radicalism.  Those  demands  were 
all  too  often  half-formed,  inchoate,  fragmentary.  The 
radical  consciousness  was  but  dimly  aware  of  the  omni- 
present urgency  of  economic  reform.  The  mirage  of  politi- 
cal equality,  blurring  the  vision  and  distorting  the  per- 
spective, danced  constantly  before  its  eyes;  "ballot-box 
influenza "  had  become  an  obsession,  annual  Parliaments 
and  universal  suffrage  ultimate  and  final  goals,  rather  than 
milestones  on  the  dusty  road  of  progress.  Nevertheless, 
the  spirit  of  discontent  was  due  mainly  to  economic  dis- 
tress. It  was  physical  suffering  and  physical  want,  those 
ever  active  stimuli  of  protesting  humanity,  which  stirred 
the  emotions  and  steeled  the  determination  of  the  British 
radicals.  For  that  reason,  if  for  no  other,  any  study  of 
radical  agitation  which  casts  economic  opinion  to  one  side 

1  Matthews,  Remarks  on  the  Cause  and  Progress  of  the  Scarcity 
and  Dearness  of  Cattle,  Swine,  Cheese,  etc.,  1/97,  P-  205. 

139]  ^29 


I40  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [14O 

is  without  fair  proportion  and  equitable  balance.^  It  is, 
however,  one  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  of  the  his- 
torian that  this  opinion  so  powerful,  often  determinative 
in  its  day,  seldom  leaves  an  adequate  trace,  either  of  its 
own  expression  or  of  its  force  in  society.  A  thing  of  the 
hour,  called  out  by  the  insistent  needs  of  daily  life,  it  lives 
only  as  long  as  the  situation  lasts.  Once  the  crisis  passes 
away,  the  whole  incident  is  forgotten  and  its  literature 
which  is  the  historian's  only  clue,  is  thrown  to  the  rubbish 
heap.  Fortunately,  however,  in  this  instance  it  is  not  alto- 
gether the  case.  A  few  pamphlets,  but  enough  to  give  us 
some  inkling  as  to  what  the  situation  and  opinion  really 
were,  have  come  down  to  us.  They  are  not  the  least  inter- 
esting material  for  the  study  of  our  period. 

Monopolies,  relentless  and  brutalizing,  were  assumed  to 
be  the  source  of  the  prevalent  economic  misery,  and  special 
opprobrium  was  cast  by  the  radicals  upon  all  who  plotted 
to  raise  the  price  of  foodstuffs.  Denunciation  of  the  corn 
dealers  and  the  wholesale  butchers  are  common.  The 
wholesale  butcher  or  "  the  carcass  butcher,"  as  he  is  called, 
is  accused  of  attending  all  the  chartered  markets  within 
fifty  miles  of  London,  although  those  markets  were  in- 
tended for  the  local  community  only.  It  is  claimed  that  the 
London  wholesalers  go  there,  and  buy  up  all  the  live  stock, 
so  that  when  it  reaches  the  Smithfield  market,  the  cutting 
or  retail  butcher  finds  to  his  sorrow  that  it  is  already  sold, 
and  that  there  is  no  longer  competition  as  in  the  old  days.' 
The  wholesale  butchers  not  only  forestall  the  cattle;  they 
actually  buy  the  very  farms.     What  right  has  a  butcher 

1  Robinson,  Tlie  New  History,  pp.   132  et  seq. 

^Monopoly:  The  cutting  butchers'  last  a[^peal  to  the  legislature  upon 
the  high  price  of  meat,  by  a  Philanthropic  Butcher,  London,  1795. 
This  is  replied  to  by  the  wholesale  butchers  by  Facts  for  the  Con- 
sideration of  the  Public  at  Large. 


141  ]         RADICALISM  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  CRISIS  141 

to  be  a  farmer ;  or  a  farmer  to  be  a  butcher !  If  the  butcher 
cares  for  the  plow,  let  him  get  a  farm,  but  he  should  leave 
his  cleaver  behind  him.  It  is  not  fair  that  he  should  carry 
on  both  trades.  The  law  should  stop  these  monopolies, 
but  if  it  won't,  then  the  landlords  ought  to  prevent  their 
tenants  from  butchering,  and  the  magistrates  who  dispose 
of  the  market  stalls  should  see  to  it  that  the  butchers  are 
kept  at  a  distance.  Dw^ellers  outside  of  London  must  join 
in  assisting  their  city  brethren.  If  they  pledge  themselves 
not  to  buy  of  the  farmer-butcher,  much  might  be  done, 
and  also,  if  the  farmer-butcher  were  forbidden  to  sell  every 
fifth  female  calf  for  veal,  there  would  be  more  cattle  in  the 
kingdom.  No  yearling  swine  should  be  killed,  either.  As 
it  is  now,  the  butchers,  who  care  nothing  for  the  country, 
are  greatly  diminishing  the  supply  of  livestock  by  their 
short-sighted  and  selfish  methods. 

The  butchers  are  not  the  only  offenders.  We  are  told 
also  of  a  butter  monopoly.  "  About  twenty  years  ago  the 
obnoxious  practice  of  contracting  for  dairies  was  but  little 
known."  Butter  was  sold  fresh  and  at  a  reasonable  rate. 
Now,  the  great  jobbers  engross  the  butter  supply  in  New- 
gate and  Leadenhall  markets.  "  Their  practice  is  to  ride 
from  dairy  to  dairy  in  the  country,  and  to  buy  up  all  they 
can;  this  means  of  engrossing  such  large  quantities  en- 
ables them  to  sell  at  two  prices,  for  the  dealers  are  com- 
pelled to  apply  to  them  first."  The  bakers  are  not  behind- 
hand in  sharp  practice.  They  adulterate  their  bread  by 
using  salt,  alum  and  soap.  And  as  for  the  brewers,  they 
are  famous  for  their  sly  ways.  They  put  tobacco  in  their 
beer,  to  whet  the  thirst;  Spanish  licorice  is  used  for  color- 
ing; isinglass  gives  beer  a  translucent  appearance,  and 
copperas  makes  it  foam. 

"  Before  the  accursed  spirit  of  monopoly  destroyed  the 


142  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [142 

little  farmer,  he  had  plenty  of  fowls,  ducks,  etc.,  very  cheap, 
but  the  gentleman  farmers  disdain  to  breed  anything  but 
for  their  own  table  .  .  .  the  middle  people  are  sinking  into 
the  state  of  the  Neapolitan  lazsaroni.  It  is  a  land  for  the 
rich,  and  it  is  a  hell  for  the  poor.  Everything  is  committed 
upon  the  issue  of  money.  I  believe  there  are  few  days 
pass  away  in  the  public  offices  when  some  forlorn  individual 
is  not  brought  up  to  the  bar  of  justice  to  receive  punish- 
ment for  his  inability  to  pay  dues  enacted  by  the  multi- 
farious imposts  of  the  legislature."  ^ 

The  gentry,  indeed,  manipulate  the  law  on  their  own 
behalf.  John  Thelwal  assures  his  readers  that  the  laws 
which  regulate  commerce  are  specially  designed  to  aid  the 
rich  agriculturists.  Such  a  law,  he  says,  is  that  which  pro- 
hibits the  importation  of  foreign  corn  under  fifty  shillings 
a  bushel;  and  even  in  this  instance  good  wheat  might  be 
over  fifty  shillings  a  bushel,  and  yet  the  ports  be  closed  to 
foreign  commerce.  For  the  officers  only  took  the  average, 
and  since  more  poor  corn  was  sold  than  good,  the  average 
was  low.  It  might  be  fifty  shillings,  while  good  corn  was 
fifty-three.  Speculation  also  made  the  matter  worse.  On 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  he  instances  the  case  of  a  well-to-do 
farmer  who  bought  up  all  the  grain  on  the  island  and  re- 
fused to  sell  it,  and  "  to  such  a  height  are  these  speculations 
carried  that  corn  on  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  the  summer  of 
1795,  reached  a  price  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five 
pounds  a  load,  standing  on  the  ground,  though  in  the 
memory  of  the  oldest  inhabitant  of  that  island  it  was  never 
twelve  pounds  before." 

The  gentry  force  the  government  to  abet  their  class 
interests  in  other  ways.  Their  puppets  in  the  House  of 
Commons   facilitate  the  filching  of  the  common  land  by 

^  Matthews,  Remarks,  op.  cit.,  passim. 


143]         RADICALISM  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  CRISIS  143 

enclosure  acts.  The  growth  of  large  farms  goes  on  apace. 
"  The  practice  of  enlarging  and  engrossing  of  farms,  and 
especially  that  of  depriving  the  peasantry  of  all  landed 
property,  have  contributed  greatly  to  increase  the  number 
of  the  poor."  The  landowners  and  farmers  join  several 
small  farms  together  and  thus  take  away  the  livelihood  of 
many  who  formerly  lived  in  independence.  The  peas- 
antry are  now  beggared.  "  Formerly  many  of  the  lower 
sort  of  people  occupied  tenements  of  their  own,  with  par- 
cels of  land  about  them,  .  .  .  but  those  small  parcels  of 
ground  have  been  swallowed  up  in  the  contiguous  farms 
and  enclosures ;  the  cottages  themselves  have  been  pulled 
down;  the  families  who  used  to  occupy  them  are  crowded 
together  in  decayed  farmhouses,  with  hardly  ground  enough 
about  them  for  a  cabbage  garden."  ^ 

John  Thelwal  describes  the  process  by  which  the  wealthy 
landlord  absorbs  the  small  holding  of  his  poor  neighbor. 
Such  a  man  is  an  "  agricultural  cannibal,"  cries  Thelwal. 
He  continues  in  his  evil  ways  until  perhaps  he  becomes  the 
master  of  a  county.  His  greedy  voraciousness  should  be 
summarily  checked.  "  If  a  gentleman  (for  such  is  the 
title  with  which  v/e  perversely  dignify  every  two-legged 
being  whom  fortune  has  elevated  above  the  common  feel- 
ings of  humanity)  purchases  a  small  estate,  or  takes  the 
lease  of  any  antiquated  mansion,  almost  the  first  step  he 
takes  towards  accomplishing  his  projected  improvements 
is  to  level  the  surrounding  cottages  to  the  ground,  and  to 
drive  the  wretched  inhabitants  from  the  spot."     Poverty 

^  David  Davies,  The  Case  of  the  Laborers  in  Husbandry,  pp.  55, 
56.  The  author  of  this  book,  the  rector  of  Barkham,  Berks,  is  a 
strange  composite  of  sentimental  philanthropy  and  rational  radical- 
ism. Combined  with  his  thoughtful  analysis  of  existing  misery  are  to 
be  found  sundry  observations  on  the  improvidence  and  extravagance 
of  the  poor,  etc. 


144  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [144 

is  annoying  and  unpleasant  to  these  sensitive  gentlemen; 
cottages  destroy  the  view ;  they  are  but  "  warts  upon  the 
landscape."  And  what  right,  anyway,  have  the  poor  to 
gather  free  fuel  from  the  enclosed  heath?  "  Shall  low 
plebeians,  vulgar,  base-born  hinds,  born  in  the  pale  of 
matrimonial  beggary,  dare  to  violate  the  sacred  fences  of 
their  masters?  And  when  the  sharp,  biting  winter  freezes 
their  joints  and  the  scanty  earnings  of  their  industry  will 
scarcely  furnish  them  with  so  much  food  as  may  keep  life 
and  soul  together,  shall  they  presume  to  snatch  a  wretched 
stake  from  him  who  wallows  in  indulgence,  to  make  a  little 
fire  in  their  crazy  cabins  ?  "  ^ 

Thomas  Paine  agreed  with  Thelwal  in  this  matter. 
"  Cultivation,"  he  wrote,  "  is  at  least  one  of  the  greatest 
natural  improvements  ever  made  by  human  invention.  It 
has  given  the  created  earth  a  ten-fold  value,  but  the  landed 
monopoly  that  began  with  it  has  produced  a  great  evil.  It 
has  dispossessed  more  than  one-half  of  the  inhabitants  of 
every  nation  of  their  natural  inheritance,  without  providing 
for  them  as  ought  to  have  been  done  an  indemnification  for 
that  loss,  and  has  thereby  created  a  species  of  poverty  and 
wretchedness  that  did  not  exist  before."  ^ 

Monopolies  are  not  the  sole  cause  of  the  prevalent  dis- 
tress. There  is  too  much  commerce  and  trade,  anyway, 
we  are  assured,  for  the  welfare  of  old  England.  Wealth 
results  from  commerce  and  trade,  and  wealth  breeds  new 
desires.  The  result  is  extravagance.  Extravagance  has 
boosted  high  the  price  of  provisions.  Economy  is  now  1 
lost  art.  Merchants  ape  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
nobility.     "  In  the  metropolis  and  other  large  cities  and 

1  Thelwal,  The  Peripatetic,  i,  129  et  seq. 

2  Paine,  Agrarian  Justice,  passim.    Cf.  supra,  p.  94,  and  infra,  p.  152. 


145]         RADICALISM  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  CRISIS  14- 

towns  the  shopkeeper  who  used  to  be  well  contented  with 
one  dish  of  meat,  one  fire,  etc.,  has  now  three  or  four  times 
as  many.  His  wife  has  her  card  parties.  She  must  be  in 
the  present  fashion,  with  no  stays ;  petticoat  seams  pinned 
to  the  cravat,  and  the  arms  coming  out  at  the  pocket-holes 
— she  must  go  to  the  play-house  in  winter,  to  watering 
places  in  summer,  and  to  Ashley's  Amphitheatre  in  Autumn 
— in  his  shop  is  seldom  a  serving  woman  to  be  seen,  but 
several  well-powdered  gentlemen  to  serve  with  all  the 
politeness  required  by  the  first  female  characters."  ^ 

This  unwonted  demand  for  luxury  has  forced  prices  up- 
ward, and  the  chief  gainers  are  speculators,  landowners  and 
merchants.  People  on  fixed  incomes  have  a  hard  time  of  it, 
but  "  laborers  having  nothing  to  subsist  on  but  their  daily 
bread  must  ever  be  behindhand  in  advancing  the  price  of 
their  labor."  Inasmuch  as  the  laborer  fares  so  badly,  the 
price  of  his  labor  should  be  raised  in  proportion  to  the  price 
of  provisions.  It  would  be  advisable,  even,  for  the  govern- 
ment to  pass  a  law  to  that  effect,  for  "if  provisions  continue 
so  dear  that  the  poor  people  cannot  procure  a  moderate 
sufficiency  to  supply  their  necessary  wants,  discontent  will 
more  and  more  take  place,  and  hungry  stomachs  and  thin 
clothing  will  weaken  attachment  to  the  constitution."  ^ 

It  is  not  only  the  merchants  and  large  proprietors  who 
are  condemned.  The  farmer  also  receives  his  meed  of 
criticism.  A  pamphlet  published  in  Birmingham  discloses 
the  fact  that  the  farmer's  love  of  luxury  is  the  evil  pro- 

1  The  Crying  Frauds  of  the  London  Markets,  Proving  their  Deadly 
Influence  upon  Two  Great  Pillars  of  Life — Bread  and  Porter,  by  the 
author  of  The  Cutting  Butchers'  Appeal;  cf.  Remarks  on  the  Present 
Times,  Exhibiting  the  Causes  of  the  High  Price  of  Provisions,  by 
James  McPhail,  passim. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  113.  McPhail  believed  that  a  reform  in  morality  was  the 
greatest  need  of  Great  Britain. 


146  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [146 

genitor  of  all  disaster.  "  When  we  consider,"  begins  the 
narrative,  "  the  numberless  wretched  objects  which  every- 
where present  themselves  to  our  view ;  men  bowed  down 
with  scanty  fare  and  hard  labor — women  covered  with  pov- 
erty and  rags — children  by  shoals,  bare-footed  and  bare- 
legged, gathering  the  void  of  brutes  to  procure  substance — 
while  we  reflect  on  this  and  the  numerous  complaints  as- 
sailing our  ears  on  every  side,  we  are  naturally  led  to  in- 
quire what  can  be  the  cause  of  so  much  wickedness." 

The  writer  then  dismisses  political  corruption,  taxation, 
the  war,  and  the  slackness  of  trade  as  reasons,  and  insists 
that  the  "  dearness  of  provisions  "  is  the  determining 
factor.  His  explanation  of  that  dearness  is  somewhat 
peculiar.  "  The  possession  of  wealth,"  he  says,  "  is  gen- 
erally displayed  in  pomposity  and  affected  grandeur,  con- 
sequently it  is  no  easy  matter  to  distinguish  between  the 
land  holder  and  the  land  owner.  To  clip  the  aspiring  wings 
of  the  former,  the  latter  advance  their  rents  proportion- 
ably  to  the  price  of  grain,  etc.,  so  that  the  farmer  is  obliged 
to  return  to  his  soil.  .  .  .  Avarice  is  never  satisfied,  but 
often  disappointed.  Not  profiting  by  this  experience,  the 
farmer,  taking  advantage  of  the  times,  has  gone  on  ad- 
vancing his  grain."  Then  the  process  is  repeated  again 
and  again.  The  silly  farmer,  according  to  our  writer,  no 
sooner  raises  his  prices  than  the  proprietor  raises  his  rental, 
to  teach  him  that  he  is  only  a  farmer  after  all. 

For  this  the  silly  farmer  is  responsible.  If  he  does  not 
mend  his  ways  the  government  will  yield  to  the  demand 
of  the  poor,  and  will  then  give  a  bounty  on  grain.  When 
that  happens  the  farmer  will  be  sorry.  "  His  prancing 
hocking,"  his  chaise  and  pair,  will  then  be  set  aside.  The 
authorities  will  lend  a  hand,  the  author  thinks,  and  if  a 
bounty  is  not  feasible,  why,  the  government  can  fix  the 
price  of  wheat.     Already,  assize  of  bread  in  London  deter- 


147]         RADICALISM  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  CRISIS         147 

mines  one  price.  Why  should  not  a  local  custom  be  made 
national  ?  At  any  rate,  British  manufacturers  are  no  better 
than  those  on  the  Continent,  consequently  better  markets 
will  do  us  no  good.     We  must  have  cheaper  food.^ 

To  summarize  these  prevalent  theories  of  monopolies 
and  extravagance  we  cannot  do  better  than  to  glance  at  a 
certain  popular  pamphlet,  the  "  Rights  of  Swine."  "  Hard 
indeed  must  be  the  heart,"  it  begins,  "  which  is  unaffected 
with  the  present  distress  experienced  by  the  poor  in  general 
in  this  commercial  kingdom."  Many  thousands  of  people 
are  starving,  we  are  told,  and  why?  Corn  and  grass  pro- 
vide directly,  or  indirectly,  the  chief  food  of  mankind. 
Trade  and  commerce  affect  neither  corn  nor  grass.  "  Corn 
grows,  not  in  the  loom,  nor  grass  upon  the  anvil."  The 
reason  must  be  sought  elsewhere.  "  The  wealthy  and  vul- 
uptuous  "  raise  the  rents  of  houses  and  of  land.  "Hearken, 
O  ye  poor  of  the  land,"  the  address  continues,  "  .  .  .  the 
present  want  of  bread  among  the  poor  of  the  land  is  not 
owing  to  the  want  of  grain  in  the  world,  nor  I  presume  in 
this  land,  but  owing  to  the  price  of  it  being  excessive 
above  the  price  of  the  laborer."  The  address  then  shows 
how  wages  have  fluctuated  up  and  down  while  land  rent 
has  always  steadily  increased  in  value.  In  the  existing  law 
the  poor  have  no  protection  against  that  sort  of  danger. 
Game  laws,  riot  acts,  etc.,  protect  the  rich,  but  where  is 
there  a  law  which  protects  the  poor?    "  Open  your  eyes,  O 

1  A  Letter  Addressed  to  the  Farmers  on  the  High  Price  of  Provisions. 
by  H.  of  Walsall,  Birmingham,  1796.  The  title  states,  "originally- 
designed  for  the  Birmingham  and  Stafford  Chronicle,  but  refused 
insertion  by  them."  The  Birmingham  Chronicle  took  note  of  this 
pamphlet  as  follows :  "  Our  old  friend  H.,  from  Walsall,  we  esteem  for 
his  head  and  heart,  but  we  must  avoid  the  insertion  of  anything  which 
tends  to  render  the  children  of  distress  still  more  unhappy  by  magni- 
fying the  causes  of  their  calamity." 


148  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [148 

ye  poor  of  the  land !  In  vain  are  your  hands  and  your 
mouths  open  ...  Is  it  not  monstrously  provoking  to  be 
robbed  by  wholesale  and  relieved  by  retail !  Look  again, 
and  you  will  see  that  public  collections,  subscriptions,  and 
charities  are  nothing  more  than  the  appendages  of  corrup- 
tion, extortion  and  oppression.  .  .  .  Say  not,  therefore,  ye 
oppressed  '  there  is  a  famine,  or  a  scarcity  of  provisions  in 
the  land.'  It  would  be  false.  The  land  contains  plenty; 
and  if  provisions  were  (as  they  ought  to  be)  reduced  to 
your  wages,  you  would  enjoy  your  unquestionable  rights — 
a  comfortable  sufficiency."  ^ 

These  monopolies  crushed  down  the  farm  laborer  to  the 
status  of  a  pauper;  kept  wages  stationary;  raised  prices; 
controlled  markets;  ruined  retailers;  injured  the  fertility  of 
the  soil ;  and  day  by  day  brought  Great  Britain  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  verge  of  starvation.  But  while  monopolies, 
with  the  attendant  luxuries  and  extravagances  which  fol- 
low in  their  train  were  particularly  execrated,  the  "  pestif- 
erous novelties  "  in  agricultural  and  manufacturing  meth- 
ods by  no  means  escaped  the  condemnation  of  the  reformers. 

One  writer  claimed  that  the  new  breed  of  sheep,  fatter 
and  larger  than  the  old  kind,  was  in  a  measure  responsible 
for  the  high  price  of  meat.  "  It  is  more  than  probable," 
he  says,  "  that  the  great  noise  which  has  been  made  of  late 
years  about  increasing  the  size  of  livestock  is  a  species  of 
quackery,  which  is  a  real  loss  to  the  nation.     Small  animals 

^  State  Trials,  xxiv,  745.  For  01  her  denunciations  of  monopolies 
and  extravagance,  see  Governor  Pownall,  Consideration  on  the  Scar- 
city of  Corn  and  Bread,  Cambridge,  I79S-  By  hair  povirder,  starch, 
paste,  and  by  upholsterers,  paperhangers,  bookbinders,  etc.,  he  tells  us 
flour  is  extravagantly  wasted.  Cf.  On  Monopoly  and  a  Reform  in 
Manners,  1795;  The  British  Tocsin,  2d  ed.,  I79S;  Observations  on  the 
Present  High  Price  of  Corn,  Bristol,  I795;  Letter  to  Pitt  on  the  Cause 
of  the  High  Price  of  Provisions,  Hereford,  1795. 


149]         RADICALISM  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  CRISIS         149 

take  on  much  more  in  proportion  to  their  food  than  large 
ones  for  obvious  reasons.  First,  the  surface  of  the  small 
animal  is  much  more  in  proportion  to  their  weight  than 
large  ones,  and  as  the  fat  is  mostly  laid  on  the  surface,  they 
have  consequently  a  larger  space  to  lay  it  on.  Second, 
the  muscular  fibres  of  small  animals  are  less  tense  than 
those  of  large  ones,  and  admit  more  easily  of  that  propor- 
tion of  the  fat  which  is  insinuated  in  the  process  of  fatten- 
ing with  the  interior  vesicles  of  muscular  flesh."  ^ 

The  foe  of  large  cattle  denounced  the  horse  also.  He 
estimated  the  number  of  horses  in  Great  Britain  at  two 
million.  It  took  three  acres  to  provide  provender  for  a 
horse.  The  horses,  then,  of  the  United  Kingdom,  needed 
six  million  acres  for  their  support.  This  idea  that  the 
horse  was  largely  responsible  for  the  high  price  of  pro- 
visions, is  echoed  by  other  writers,  one  author,  indeed,  de- 
manding that  it  be  made  illegal  for  a  vehicle  to  be  drawn 
by  more  than  two  horses.  An  exception  is  made  in  favor 
of  the  king,  who  may  be  drawn  ad  libitum. 

More  frequently  do  we  meet  with  criticisms  of  new 
methods  in  manufacturing.  We  are  told  that  "  the  uncer- 
tainty of  labor  conditions  is  the  most  vicious  result  of 
these  new  innovations.  Caprice  of  fashion  causes  by  fits 
and  starts  a  great  demand  for  one  species  of  goods  and  a 
cessation  of  demand  for  another;  and  thus  workmen  who 
are  to-day  fully  employed  may  be  to-morrow  in  the  streets 
begging  their  bread."  '  The  uncertainty  of  factory  labor 
is  often  attacked.  So  also  is  the  new-fangled  machinery 
which  displaced  so  rapidly  old  and  valued  industries.  An 
anonymous  author  in  1794  bitterly  assails  the  new  spin- 
ning machinery.     "  A  wooden  wheel,  costing  two  shillings 

1  Alexander  Dirom,  An  Inquiry  into  the  Corn  Laws  and  Corn  Trade, 
Edinburgh,  1796. 

2  Davies,   The  Case  of  the  Laborers,  passim. 


I50  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [i^q 

for  each  person,  with  one  reel,  costing  three  shillings  "  pro- 
vided the  old  plant,  which  could  be  used  by  the  women  of 
the  family,  who  would  thus  not  be  exposed  to  the  evil  ef- 
fects of  working  in  a  factory.  It  is  a  crime  to  take  little 
girls  away  from  home,  and  place  them  in  a  factory  without 
protection,  under  the  sway  of  some  overseer.  Aside  from 
the  evil  influence  of  that  sort  of  thing  they  will  not  learn  the 
arts  of  housewifery.  Since  machinery  has  come  into  use 
women  and  children  are  idle.  A  woman  cannot  work  in 
the  fields;  after  her  house  work  is  done  she  has  much 
leisure  time.  Is  it  not  better  to  employ  it  in  spinning  than 
in  idleness?  Formerly  a  widow  could  get  along  when  she 
was  paid  one  penny  a  skein,  but  now  that  twenty  girls  do 
the  work  of  two  thousand  women,  the  widow  is  made  a 
pauper.  Then,  too,  the  new  machine  product  is  inferior. 
Hand-work  wool  is  much  better  twisted,  and  cloth  made 
from  it  lasts  longer.  What  are  the  poor  people  going  to 
do  ?  Wool  spinning,  he  states,  is  a  national  industry.  It  is 
not  like  the  cotton  industry  in  Manchester.  There  machin- 
ery is  a  good  thing,  for  it  does  not  supplant  British  labor, 
only  East  Indian.  Winding  silk,  manufacturing  netting 
for  fishing  boats,  and  other  local  industries  exist  in  great 
number,  but  none  is  so  generally  practiced  as  the  spinning 
of  wool.^ 

A  trenchant  observer  shows  that  there  was  some  basis 
for  these  criticisms.  In  1797,  John  Thelwal  took  a  walking 
tour  in  the  west  of  England.  We  quote  from  his  note- 
book: "At  Frome,  cloth  mill,  women  waiting  for  spare 
wool  to  be  spun  by  hand  2^d.  per  pound;  great  work  spin 
2  lb.  a  day.    Children  in  factory  is.  6d.  to  2s.  6d.  per  week. 

^  Observation  on  the  Detriment  which  is  Supposed  must  Arise  to  the 
Family  of  every  Cottage  throughout  the  Kingdom  from  the  Loss  of 
Woolen  Spinning  by  the  Introduction  of  Machinery  in  that  Work, 
London.  1794. 


151]         RADICALISM  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  CRISIS  151 

Day,  14  hours.     Pallid  and  miserable.     Women  who  pick 
knots  off  work."  ^ 

Just  how  this  situation  was  to  be  combated  the  radical 
party  did  not  know,  nor  did  it  greatly  care.  Universal  suf- 
frage and  annual  Parliaments  would  find  a  way.  The  de- 
tails of  reform  could  safely  be  left  to  the  future.  A  certain 
Catharine  Phillips,  however,  was  not  satisfied  with  gener- 
alities, and  we  owe  to  her  a  carefully-outlined  platform  of 
eight  specific,  if  somewhat  peculiar,  reforms.  First,  public 
granaries  should  be  built.  Second,  tithes  of  all  kinds  should 
be  abolished.  Tithes  Miss  Phillips  considered  the  most 
detrimental  factor  in  the  industrial  situation.  "  It  is  a 
barbarous  custom,"  she  said.  "  They  ought  not  to  be  toler- 
ated in  a  Christian  country.  For  one  man  to  be  allowed  to 
take  a  tenth  of  the  whole  produce  is  shocking  to  humanity, 
for  he  has  labored  but  very  little — perhaps  not  at  all,  as 
many  parishes  are  served  by  curates,  at  small  expense  to 
the  rectors."  Third,  the  number  of  dogs  should  be  lessened. 
Fourth,  the  number  of  small  farms  should  also  be  increased. 
Fifth,  hair  powder  should  no  longer  be  used.  Sixth, 
fishing  ought  to  be  encouraged,  and  on  that  account  taxes 
should  be  taken  from  salt,  and  settlements  should  be  made 
along  the  north  of  Scotland.  Seventh,  oxen  should  be 
used  more  generally  in  place  of  horses.  They  should  also 
be  equipped  with  collars,  instead  of  yokes.  Eighth,  the 
barren  and  waste  lands  should  be  planted  and  cultivated  at 

1  Cestre,  Thelwal,  p.  164.  These  jottings  bear  the  ear-marks  of 
truth.  We  may  be  still  further  assured  of  their  trustworthiness  if  we 
take  notice  of  Thelwal's  approval  of  the  healthy  conditions  which  pre- 
vailed in  certain  newer  and  larger  manufactories.  Thelwal  indeed, 
though  a  warm  hearted  and  emotional  man.  was  in  many  ways  a  stern 
realist,  fairly  immune  to  superficial  sentimentalities.  "  Filth  and  rags 
but  tolerably  healthy"  was  his  caustic  description  of  one  woolen 
manufactorv. 


152  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [i;2 

the  expense  of  the  national  government  for  the  benefit  of 
the  entire  community/ 

Thomas  Paine  also  brought  forward  a  proposal  to  dimin- 
ish economic  misery.  In  1797,  he  published  his  "  Agrarian 
Justice."  This  little  pamphlet  was  called  forth  by  a  sermon 
of  Bishop  Watson  on  the  subject  of  God's  beneficent  in- 
tention in  creating  both  rich  and  poor.  Paine  denied  that 
God  made  men  rich  and  poor.  "  He  made  only  male  and 
female  and  gave  them  the  earth  for  their  inheritance." 
Monopolization  of  the  land  has  violated  and  not  fulfilled 
God's  will ;  and  to  make  amends  an  inheritance  tax  ought 
to  be  laid  on  all  landed  property,  the  money  thus  collected 
to  form  a  vast  national  fund.  Every  person  in  Great 
Britain  upon  reaching  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  whether 
poor  or  rich,  male  or  female,  is  to  be  paid  from  it  the  sum 
of  fifteen  pounds.  "  When  a  young  couple  begin  the 
world,"  argues  Paine,  "  the  difference  is  exceeding  great 
whether  they  begin  with  nothing  or  with  fifteen  pounds 
apiece.  With  this  aid  they  could  buy  a  cow  and  imple- 
ments to  cultivate  a  few  acres  of  land;  and  instead  of  be- 
coming a  burden  upon  society,  which  is  always  the  case 
where  children  are  produced  faster  than  they  can  be  fed. 
they  would  be  put  in  the  way  of  becoming  useful  and 
profitable  citizens."  ^ 

The  diffuse  though  specific  remedies  of  Catharine 
Phillips  and  the  proposed  inheritance  tax  of  Paine's  "Ag- 
rarian Justice,"  were  trifling  and  half-way  measures  to 
Thomas  Spence.     He  alone  of  all  the  British  radicals  un- 

*  Catharine  Phillips,  Considerations  on  the  Causes  of  the  High  Price 
of  Grain,  and  other  Articles  of  Provision  for  a  Number  of  Years 
Past,  and  Propositions  for  Reducing  them,  with  Occasional  Remarks, 
London,  1792. 

2  Paine,  Agrarian  Justice,  1797,  passim.  Conway,  Life  of  Paine, 
ii,  251. 


153]         RADICALISM  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  CRISIS  153 

derstood  in  its  full  significance  the  economic  basis  of  human 
society.  "  It  is  childish,"  he  claimed,  "  to  expect  ever  to 
see  small  farms  again,  or  ever  to  see  anything  else  than 
the  utmost  screwing  and  grinding  of  the  poor  till  you  quite 
overturn  the  present  system  of  landed  property."  The 
landlords,  he  said,  are  "  a  warlike  enemy  quartered  upon 
us  for  the  purpose  of  raising  contributions.  William  the 
Conqueror  and  his  Normans  were  fools  [compared]  to 
them  in  the  art  of  fleecing,  and  therefore  anything  short 
of  the  total  destruction  of  the  power  of  these  Samsons 
will  not  do,  and  that  must  be  accomplished  not  by  simple 
shaving,  which  leaves  the  roots  of  new  strength  to  grow 
again.  No :  we  must  scalp  them,  or  else  they  will  soon  re- 
cover and  pull  our  temple  of  liberty  about  our  ears."  ^ 

The  advisability  of  scalping  the  landlords  did  not  appeal 
to  the  rank  and  file  of  the  radicals.  Poor  Spence  finally 
admitted  that  he  was  held  up  to  the  public  as  a  fool  and  a 
madman,  and  that  "  the  greater  part  think  it  would  be  best 
to  treat  me  and  my  opinions  with  contempt."  These  spe- 
cific reforms,  indeed,  created  little  stir.  The  truth  was 
that  the  radicals  were  chiefly  interested  in  political  reform. 
Here  and  there,  to  be  sure,  desultory  pamphlets  would  ap- 
pear urging  economic  innovations.  There  were  many  criti- 
cisms of  the  oat-devouring  horse;  and  suggestions  for 
state  granaries  were  fairly  numerous.^     But  there  was  no 

^  Spence,  The  Restorer  of  Society  to  Its  Natural  State  in  a  Series' 
of  Letters  to  a  Fellow  Citizen,  Letter  V.  In  defence  of  this  gory 
theory  Spence  says :  "  It  is  plain  that  if  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  had 
scalped  Samson  instead  of  shaving  him,  they  might  have  saved  both 
themselves  and  their  temples." 

*  Spence,  The  Trial  of  Thomas  Spence,  p.  67,  bound  with  The  Con- 
stitution of  the  Perfect  Commonwealth,  1798. 

'  E.  S.  Gray,  A  Proposal  for  Supplying  London  with  Bread.  In 
these  granaries  a  huge  supply  of  grain  is  to  be  stocked,  and  fortifica- 
tions are  to  be  built  around  them.     Idem,  A  Letter  to  the  Honorable 


154  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [154 

common  platform,  no  unified  specific  demand  which,  in 
the  world  of  economic  thought,  might  compare  with  annual 
Parliaments  and  universal  suffrage.  There  was,  indeed,  a 
widespread  feeling  that  wages  should  be  higher,  but  the 
feeling  had  not  crystallized  into  a  definite  plan. 

A  hint,  a  suggestion,  however,  of  how  this  was  to  come 
about  we  may  gather  from  an  advertisement  which  ap- 
peared in  a  Norwich  paper:  "Day  Laborers."  It  read: 
"  At  a  numerous  meeting  of  the  day  laborers  in  the  little 
parishes  of  Heacham,  Snettishham  and  Sedgford.  this 
day,  5th  November,  in  the  parish  of  Heacham,  in  the 
county  of  Norfolk,  in  order  to  take  into  consideration  the 
best  and  most  peaceful  mode  of  obtaining  redress  of  all 
the  severe  and  peculiar  hardships  under  which  they  have 
so  many  years  painfully  suffered,  the  following  resolu- 
tions were  unanimously  agreed  to:  ist,  that — The  laborer 
is  zvorfhy  of  his  hire,  and  that  the  mode  of  lessening  his 
distress,  as  hath  been  lately  the  fashion,  by  selling  him  flour 
under  the  market  price,  and  thereby  rendering  him  the  ob- 
ject of  a  parish  rate,  is  not  only  an  indecent  insult  to  his 
lonely  and  humble  situation,  in  itself  [sufficiently  mortify- 
ing from  his  degrading  dependence  upon  the  caprice  of  his 
employer],  but  a  fallacious  mode  of  relief,  and  every  way 
inadequate  to  a  radical  redress  of  the  manifold  distresses  of 
his  calamitous  state;  2nd,  that  the  price  of  labor  shall  at 
all  times  be  proportioned  to  the  price  of  wheat,  and  should 
be  invariably  regulated  by  the  average  price  of  that  neces- 
sity of  life."  The  advertisement  states  further  that  this  is 
the  only  way  by  which  the  status  of  the  laborer  as  a  self- 
respecting  man  may  be  maintained,  and  it  invites  assistance 
and  co-operation   from   all   of   his   friends.      If   they   will 

the  Corn  Committee  on  the  Importation  of  Rough  Rice  as  a  Supple- 
ment of  Wheaten  flour.  London,  1796.  This  writer  justifies  granaries, 
from  Genesis,  XLI. 


155]         RADICALISM  AND  THE  ECONOMIC  CRISIS  155 

write  to  Adam  More,  laborer,  at  Heacham,  postage  pre- 
paid, they  will  receive  further  information  concerning  the 
proposal/ 

The  intimation,  in  this  advertisement,  of  a  minimunm 
wage  may  also  be  supplemented  by  the  proposal  of  one 
lone  member  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Samuel  Whit- 
bread,  contemptuously  termed  by  Byron  "  The  Demos- 
thenes of  vulgar  vehemence,"  though  a  Whig  member  of 
Parliament,  had  distinctly  radical  leanings.  He  frequently 
acted  independently  of  party,  and  particularly  when  his 
humanitarian  sympathies  were  aroused.  In  1795  he 
brought  in  a  bill  to  revive  an  old  act  of  Elizabeth's.  This 
act  provided  that  justices  of  the  peace  might  assess  the 
wages  of  laborers  in  husbandry.  The  law  had  been  passed 
to  prevent  laborers  from  striking  for  a  higher  wage,  and 
to  that  end  had  been  amended  and  revised  in  the  reign  of 
James  I  and  George  \l."  Whitbread  now  proposed  govern- 
ment action  to  keep  wages  from  falling  too  low.  He  ex- 
plained, in  the  House,  that  the  act  of  Queen  Elizabeth  em- 
powered justices  of  the  peace  to  fix  the  maximum  reward 
of  labor.  His  bill,  he  stated,  only  went  so  far  as  to  em- 
power them  to  fix  the  minimum. 

In  this  measure  Whitbread  received  practically  no  sup- 
port. Fox  addressed  the  House  in  one  of  his  long,  mean- 
ingless speeches,  more  filled  with  denunciation  of  the  gov- 
ernment than  with  feeling  for  the  poor.  A  certain  Mr. 
Burden  denied  that  the  price  of  labor  was  inadequate  to 
the  price  of  provisions ;  he  knew  of  places  where  the  labor- 
ers were  able  to  accumulate  money.  And  Dundas  followed 
in  the  same  strain,  with  a  few  remarks  anent  the  lateness 
of  the  season,  and  the  failure  of  the  crops. ^     Whitbread's 

^  Young,  Annals,  xxv,  503. 

-  Hammond,  Village  Laborers,  pp.  133  et  seq. 

3  Parliamentary  Register,  liii,  648. 


1 56  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [  1 56 

bill  was  negatived  at  its  second  reading  without  a  division. 
Upwards  of  six  score  years  were  to  pass  ere  the  "  wildcat " 
theory  of  Samuel  Whitbread  was  to  meet  with  the  appro- 
bation of  a  British  Parliament. 


SECTION   II 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Radical  Societies.     Their  General  Aim  and 
Purpose 

THE  quasi-radical  SOCIETIES  REVIEWED.  THE  LONDON 
CORRESPONDING  SOCIETY  AND  ITS  ALLIES.  THEIR  THREE- 
FOLD propaganda:  correspondence,  publications  AND 
PUBLIC  MEETINGS 

The  British  radicals  made  little  headway  in  putting 
their  theories  into  practice.  Unforseen  circumstances 
played  havoc  with  their  plans.  Prejudices,  bitter  and  un- 
yielding, blocked  their  progress,  while  a  Tory  government, 
lynx-eyed  and  unrelenting,  rendered  their  designs  abortive. 
Yet,  despite  this  failure  of  organized  radicalism,  the  story 
of  what  was  undertaken  serves  not  only  as  a  commentary 
upon  the  radical  movement,  but  likewise  as  a  mirror  in 
which  are  reproduced  the  social  conflicts,  prejudices  and  en- 
thusiasms of  the  British  people. 

In  the  history  of  this  radical  campaign  a  noteworthy 
distinction  exists  between  the  radical  leaders  in  theory  and 
the  radical  leaders  in  practice.  Paine  did  not  return  to. 
England  after  1791.  To  Godwin  and  Bentham  the  philoso- 
pher's chair  was  more  congenial  than  the  platform  or  the 
committee-room.  Mackintosh  and  Frend,  however  radi- 
cal in  theory,  knew  not  how  to  hobnob  with  the  common 
people.  Gerrald,  it  is  true,  was  a  prominent  member  of  the 
London  Corresponding  Society,  but  his  deportation  soon 
cut  him  off  from  his  associates;  and  Thelwal,  though  a 
popular  speaker,  had  but  little  weight  as  an  organizer  or 
159]  I5Q 


l6o  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [i6o 

leader.  Furthermore,  existing  conditions  made  radical 
representation  in  Parliament  impossible.  Thus  no  radical 
nucleus  could  assist  in  the  formation  of  a  party,  or  in  the 
conduct  of  a  campaign. 

Yet  both  party  and  campaign  there  must  be,  and  the 
solution  was  simple.  Several  radical  clubs  and  debat- 
ing societies  had  sprung  up  in  Great  Britain.  Their 
number  could  be  multiplied;  uniform  constitutions  could 
be  formulated;  common  purposes  and  actions  settled  upon. 
A  convention  of  these  societies  might  draw  still  closer  the 
bonds  of  unity.  And,  indeed,  an  executive  committee  of 
this  convention,  secret  if  need  be,  might  concentrate  even 
more  effectively  the  political  pressure  which  these  societies 
might  bring  to  bear.  It  was  hoped  by  these  means  that  a 
powerful  and  unified  force  would  dislodge,  and  perhaps 
cast  aside,  the  dead  weight  of  conservative  authority  and 
prestige.  The  plan  was  good  in  theory;  in  practice  it 
proved  ineffectual. 

If  we  are  to  judge  fairly  and  comprehensively  the  or- 
ganized work  of  the  British  radicals,  it  is  necessary  for 
us  to  hasten  over  the  career  of  certain  societies  which,  for 
one  reason  or  another,  received  more  popular  attention  than 
their  real  influence  warranted.  "  The  Revolution  So- 
ciety," "  The  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  People,"  and 
"  The  London  Society  for  Constitutional  Information," 
were  of  this  character.  Strictly  speaking,  the  first  two  of 
these  societies  were  not  even  radical.  Their  history,  how- 
ever, is  so  interwoven  with  that  of  radicalism  that  cog- 
nizance must  be  taken  of  them. 

The  Revolution  Society  may  best  be  described  in  the 
words  of  its  steward,  who  declares  it  composed  of  "  all 
gentlemen  who  wished  well  to  the  principles  of  the  revolu- 
tion. To  them  a  general  invitation  is  issued  to  dine  at  a 
London  tavern,  where,  for  seven  shillings  and  sixpence, 


l6l]  THE  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  l6i 

they  may  get  as  good  a  dinner  and  as  much  sherry,  punch 
and  port  as  they  liked,  and  leave,  well  contented  with 
their  country."  Quite  innocuous  were  these  old  Whig  hon 
vivants.  The  revolution  of  1688  was  their  excuse  for 
much  wine  and  good  fellowship.  They  assembled  an- 
nually to  recall  wuth  reverence  and  to  applaud  those  noble 
principles  of  freedom  incorporated  into  the  British  Con- 
stitution in  that  year.  In  all  the  glory,  laud  and  honor 
offered  these  idealized  concepts  of  liberty  there  was  noth- 
ing revolutionary  or  militant.  There  was  nothing  revolu- 
tionary or  militant  about  the  society  at  all,  save  in  the 
name.  The  members  were  patriotic  Englishmen;  some  of 
them  boasted  that,  through  the  crisis  of  the  Regency  Bill, 
they  had  been  more  loyal  to  the  king  than  the  Whig  Party, 
and  a  bumper  to  King  George  never  failed  to  conclude 
their  festivities.^ 

This  society  was  based  upon  three  principles  of  so-called 
radicalism,  the  insistence  upon  which,  in  Dr.  Price's  ser- 
mon, so  infuriated  Burke.  They  were  as  follows :  first, 
that  all  civil  and  political  authority  is  derived  from  the  peo- 
ple; second,  that  abuse  of  power  justifies  resistance;  third, 
that  rights  of  private  judgment,  liberty  of  conscience,  trial 
by  jury,  and  freedom  of  election  are  ever  to  be  held  sacred 
and  inviolate.  The  events  of  1789  in  France  were  com- 
monly interpreted  in  England  as  inspired  by  these  same 
ideals,  and  in  consequence,  as  might  have  been  expected,  the 
revolution  in  France  found,  at  first,  warm  support  in  the 
Revolution  Society.  This  is  indicated  by  its  annual  banquet 
on  November  4,  1 789 ;  for  on  that  day,  wath  Earl  Stanhope 
in  the  chair,  Dr.  Price  made  the  following  motion,  that 
"  The  Society  for  commemorating  the  Revolution  in  Great 
Britain,  disclaiming  national  partialities,  and  rejoicing  in 

1  A  Letter  to  Edmund  Burke  by  a  member  of  the  Revolution  Society, 
passim. 


1 62  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [162 

every  triumph  of  liberty  and  justice  over  arbitrary  power, 
offers  to  the  National  Assembly  of  France  their  congratu- 
lations on  the  revolution  in  that  country,  and  on  the  pros- 
pect it  gives  to  the  first  two  kingdoms  of  the  world  of  a 
common  participation  in  the  blessings  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty."  ^  To  this  congratulatory  message  the  French  Na- 
tional Assembly  replied  in  equally  felicitous  terms.  Much 
mutual  affection  was  displayed.  Many  were  the  verbal 
courtesies  exchanged;  and  in  the  meantime  the  opportunity 
for  an  additional  annual  dinner  in  praise  of  liberty  must 
not  be  lost.  The  Revolution  Society  gladly  embraced  the 
opportunity,  and  July  fourteenth  became  only  less  hallowed 
than  November  fourth. 

No  trouble  arose  in  1790.  By  1791,  however,  bitterness 
and  animosity  broke  out  beyond  the  power  of  a  good  dinner 
to  allay.  Many  of  the  more  influential  members  began  to 
absent  themselves  from  its  feasts.  Fox  and  Sheridan  no 
longer  came.  It  was  said  that  they  feared  the  occurrence 
of  riots.^  When  the  society  met  on  July  14,  1791,  twenty- 
one  toasts  were  drunk,  including  the  "  Rights  of  Man," 
the  "  Sovereignty  of  the  People,"  "  Ireland  and  her  band 
of  Patriots,"  "George  Washington  and  the  liberty  of  North 
America,"  "  the  Memory  of  Dr.  Price,  the  Apostle  of  Lib- 
erty and  the  friend  of  Mankind,"  "  the  Memory  of  Hamp- 
ton, Locke,  Franklin,"  etc.  Speeches  were  many  and  per- 
fervid.  A  French  visitor  extolled  the  virtues  of  the  society, 
and  the  occasion  was  also  enlivened  by  spirited  songs.  ^ 

^Letter  to  Burke  by  a  member  of  the  Revolution  Society,  op.  cit.. 
appendix. 
*  London  Morning  Post,  Julj-  15,  i79i- 

'  The   Gentleman's  Magazine    for    1791,    Part   II,   p.   678.     One  song 
begins : 

"  Not  now  the  venial  tribe  shall  raise 
The  song  of  prostituted  praise." 


163]  THE  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  163 

The  withdrawal  of  the  leaders,  coupled  with  the  course 
of  events  in  France,  caused  the  downfall  of  the  society. 
It  lingered  on  for  some  time,  but  became  less  and  less  con- 
spicuous as  the  years  passed  by.  ^ 

More  serious  in  purpose,  but  even  less  radical  in  tone> 
were  the  Friends  of  the  People.  This  society  was  organized 
on  the  eleventh  of  April,  1792,  to  obtain  Parliamentary 
reform.  To  this  end  a  declaration  was  drawn  up  and  one 
hundred  and  forty-seven  gentlemen  subscribed,  including 
twenty  members  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  initia- 
tion fee  was  placed  at  two  and  one-half  guineas,  with  an- 
nual dues  of  the  same  amount.  The  aim  of  this  society  as 
officially  announced  was:  first,  to  restore  the  freedom  of 
election  by  an  equitable  representation  of  the  people  in 
Parliament;  second,  to  restore  to  the  people  a  more  equal 
and  more  frequent  exercise  of  their  right  of  voting.  With 
this  purpose  in  view  it  was  hoped  that  similar  societies 
throughout  the  country  might  co-operate  with  the  London 
group.  The  hope  never  materialized.  Grey  presented  the 
petition  of  the  society  in  Parliament,  only  to  be  greeted 
with  scorn  and  derision. 

Outside  of  London  the  society  had  no  influence.  It 
held  aloof  from  other  political  societies,  and  with  the  more 
radical  associations  would  have  no  dealings.  The  Friends 
of  the  People,  with  the  passing  of  the  decade,  gradually 
sank  into  insignificance.  After  the  treason  trials  of  1794. 
their  sessions  virtually  ceased.^ 

'  On  August  20,  1 791  a  meeting  of  the  society  in  the  Thatched  House 
Tavern  subscribed  fifty  pounds  for  the  diffusion  of  Paine's  writings. 
The  landlord  thereupon  refused  the  use  of  his  premises  for  future 
occasions. 

Extracts  from  the  proceedings  and  correspondence  of  the  Revolu- 
tion Society  are  given  in  The  Annual  Register  for  1792. 

'  Francis  Place,  in  his  Scral>  Book.  British  Museum  Additional  Manu- 


1 64  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [164 

The  London  Constitutional  Society  was  organized  on  a 
different  basis.  It  was  genuinely  radical,  and  stood  in 
much  closer  sympathy  with  the  main  current  of  radical 
opinion  and  action.  This  society  owed  its  origin  to  the  ex- 
citement of  the  Wilkes  controversy.  Originally  intended 
as  a  vehicle  for  promoting  constitutional  knowledge  and 
the  traditional  liberties  of  England,  it  was  galvanized  into 
new  life  by  the  quickened  popular  interests  in  political  and 
social  reform  coincident  with  the  French  Revolution.  The 
erratic  Major  Cartwright  was  chairman  of  this  associa- 
tion ;  and,  as  he  and  his  friends  were  viewed  askance  by 
Fox  and  other  Parliamentar)-  reformers  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  no  understanding  existed  between  the  Friends  of 
the  People  and  the  London  Constitutional  Society.  Indeed, 
for  a  time  the  latter  body  was  the  leading  radical  or- 
ganization. Paine  entrusted  to  it  his  "  Rights  of  Man," 
and  as  agent  for  the  distribution  of  that  book  the  society 
was  regarded  with  deep  suspicion  by  all  opponents  of 
Paine.  Overtures  were  made  to  it  by  the  other  radical 
clubs,  and  these  overtures  were  welcomed.  To  all  appear- 
ance the  future  was  secure. 

The  society  took  a  prominent  part  in  popularizing  radi- 
cal theory.  ''  The  Rights  of  Man  "  was  widely  distrib- 
uted besides  other  pamphlets,  such  as  Paine's  "  Letter  to 
Secretary  Dundas/'  of  which  8,962  copies  were  sent  to 
local  distributors  to  be  scattered  throughout  the  country.* 

Nevertheless,  soon  after  1792  the  society  began  to  de- 
cline in  both  influence  and  membership.  Internal  dissen- 
sion was  largely  responsible  for  this.     Many  members,  in- 

scripts,  27,808,  p.  18,  tells  ns  that  a  few  members  met  afterwards  in  a 
desultory  fashion.     For  the  treason  trials,  vid.  infra,  pp.  197  et  seq. 

'   State  Trials,  xxv,  167. 


165]  THE  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  16- 

deed,  never  approved  of  Paine,  and  some  of  them  seceded 
for  that  reason/  The  advisabihty  of  sending  a  delegate 
to  the  Edinburgh  Convention  was  likewise  a  source  of 
friction,  and,  although  a  delegate  was  finally  sent,  the  dis- 
gruntled opposition  soon  deserted  the  society." 
■  A  prolific  correspondence  also  was  carried  on  with  other 
clubs  and  societies.  The  nature  of  this,  cautious  in  spirit 
if  not  in  word,  indicated  an  attitude  indifferent  and  luke- 
warm toward  more  radical  associations  throughout  Great 
Britain.  But  there  was  no  room  for  middle-of-the-road 
opinion  after  1792,  and  from  that  year  on  the  membership 
of  the  London  Constitutional  Society  rapidly  diminished. 
The  bred-in-the-bone  radical  found  a  more  effective  out- 
let for  his  work  elsewhere.  The  timid  and  more  moderate 
thought  it  wiser  to  withdraw. 


't>' 


To  find  sustained  enthusiasm,  we  must  look  to  certain 
other  clubs  and  associations,  quite  different  in  character 
from  the  three  already  mentioned.  Societies  recruited 
from  a  more  proletarian  source :  mechanics,  craftsmen, 
and  the  petty  tradesfolk,  existed  throughout  the  island. 
They  were  particularly  strong  in  the  great  factory  towns. 

The  genesis  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society  was 
widely  different  from  that  of  its  more  aristocratic  neigh- 
bors. It  may  be  traced  to  a  conversation  carried  on  by 
Thomas  Hardy,  a  London  shoemaker,  as  early  as  1791- 
The  first  meeting  was  held  on  June  22,  1792,  with  a  total 

^  The  number  of  seceders  was  said  to  have  been  kept  secret.  Public 
Advertiser,  March  23,  1792.  Among  them,  however,  was  Grey.  Jor- 
dan's Parliamentary  Journal,  January  4,  1793. 

^  The  Constitutional  Society  refused  to  take  any  part  in  a  future  con- 
vention, according  to  the  only  member  of  the  society  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  a  Mr.  Thompson.     The  Senator  for  1794,  p.  1249. 


1 66  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [i66 

attendance  of  eight  persons.^  By  the  second  of  February, 
the  muster  roll  included  seventeen;  a  week  later  twenty- 
five;  and  very  shortly  after  this  time,  it  was  believed  that 
sufficient  headway  had  been  made  to  divulge  the  aims  and 
purposes  of  the  society.  Encouraged  by  the  endorsement 
of  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  a  little  printed  statement  was 
issued,  in  v^hich  vv^ere  incorporated  his  words  as  fol- 
lows :  "  These  facts  are  self-evident,  and  need  no  com- 
ment. Let  us  look  at  this  metropolis,  and  see  that  the 
majority  of  its  inhabitants  have  no  vote.  It  is  the 
view  or  intention  of  this  society  to  collect  the  opinions  of 
all  of  the  unrepresented  part  of  the  people  as  far  as  possible, 
for  they  are  certainly  the  persons  aggrieved,  and  have  the 
greatest  possible  right  to  stand  forward  like  men  for  their 
privileges.  If  they  are  united  and  firm,  who  are  they  that 
dare  oppose  them  in  their  determination?"'  This  state- 
ment, issued  February  13,  1793,  was  the  first  public  an- 
nouncement of  the  London  Corresponding  Society. 

The  society,  its  initial  bow  once  made,  proceeded  to  or- 
ganize. A  committee  on  constitutions  was  appointed, 
which  began  its  work  by  announcing  a  tentative  set  of 
eight  rules.  The  more  important  of  these  provided  for 
general  meetings,  unlimited  membership,  and  a  central 
committee  of  correspondence  to  communicate  with  other 
societies.  These  rules,  expanded  and  amended,  became 
the  constitution  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society. 
The  document  is  long,  detailed  and  explicit.  Any  individ- 
ual proposed  by  two  members  might  join,  on  affirming 
his  belief  in  the  necessity  of  manhood  suffrage.  For  the 
automatic  and  orderly  growth  of  the  society  it  was  to  be 
divided  into  as  many  sections  or  divisions  "  as  there  shall 

1  Place  MSS.,  27,808,  p.  13. 

2/&t£f.,    27,811. 


167]  THE  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  167 

be  thirty  members  to  make  up  the  number  requisite  for 
such  division."  Every  division  was  to  meet  once  a  week, 
and  every  member  was  to  pay  a  penny  a  week  dues,  while  a 
central  committee  was  to  be  formed,  consisting  of  a  dele- 
gate from  each  division.^  To  attend  a  meeting,  tickets  of 
admission  were  required,  bearing  the  owner's  name  and 
that  of  the  secretary."  In  the  general  meetings,  reports 
were  presented  from  each  division,  followed  by  a  debate 
on  the  question  before  the  house.  A  typical  meeting  seems 
to  have  been  that  of  the  6th  of  December,  1792.  On  that 
occasion  there  were  put  before  the  house  several  reports  of 
interrupted  meetings.  A  motion  for  the  gratuitous  admis- 
sion of  soldiers  was  withdrawn,  and  bail  was  raised  for  an 
arrested  bill-sticker."^ 

The  Beaufort  Building  in  the  Strand  was  for  a  long 
time  the  centre  of  the  radical  propaganda.  The  room  of 
the  central  committee  of  the  London  Cprresponding  So- 
ciety was  fitted  with  benches  and  desks,  after  the  manner 
of  a  school.  The  president's  chair  was  at  the  end  of  the 
room,  in  a  sort  of  pulpit  raised  three  feet  from  the  floor.'* 
It  was  said  that  the  meetings  frequently  became  very 
crowded.  In  1795,  when  there  were  seventy  divisions  of 
the  society,  there  foregathered  in  this  place  a  delegate  and 
sub-delegate  from  each  division.  Visiting  radicals  were 
admitted  to  the  floor,  and  it  is  small  wonder  that  the  stuffi- 
ness of  the  room  aroused  much  complaint. 

The  work  of  this  society  and  its  allied  associations  was 
largely  confined  to  three  main  channels.     Through  corres- 

1  Place  MSS.,  27,813,  P-  36. 

2  Ibid.,  27,814,  p.  168. 

3  Manuscript  Journal  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society,  Place 
MSS.,  27,812,  vol.  ii  (the  pages  in  this  Journal  are  not  numbered). 

*  Place  MSS.,  27,808,  p.  28. 


l68  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [i68 

pondence,  through  the  publication  and  diffusion  of  radical 
petitions  and  tracts,  and  through  public  meetings,  a  thor- 
ough reform  of  society  was  sought.  Without  organization 
it  was  recognized  that  the  widespread  spirit  of  unrest 
throughout  the  nation  would  be  of  little  avail.  Local  or- 
ganization would  not  be  sufficient.  Closer  cohesion  must  be 
had,  and  to  this  end  an  elaborate  system  of  correspondence 
was  initiated  by  the  London  Corresponding  Society. 

In  London  proper,  overtures  were  first  made  to  the  ear- 
lier existent  Constitutional  Society.  In  March,  1792,  was 
sent  this  modest  request  for  mutual  co-operation :  "  Wc 
shall  accordingly  be  happy  to  enter  into  correspondence 
with  your  society,  if  it  is  not  too  much  presumption  to  ex- 
pect such  an  honor."  ^  To  this  address  the  Constitutional 
Society  replied  in  friendly  fashion — more  friendly,  per- 
haps, than  it  intended,  for  the  humbler  Corresponding- 
Society,  emboldened  by  the  reply,  requested  a  closer  affilia- 
tion.^ At  this  the  Constitutional  Society  balked,  but  con- 
sented to  admit  six  members  of  the  Corresponding  Society 
to  honorary  membership.  This  partial  alliance  led  to  noth- 
ing. The  Corresponding  Society  gradually  tired  of  its 
supplicatory  role,  and  finally,  in  1794,  wrote  sharply  to 
this  effect :  "  The  London  Corresponding  Society  conceives 
that  the  moment  is  arrived  vv'hen  a  full  and  explicit  dec- 
laration is  necessary  from  all  the  friends  of  freedom.  .  .  . 
The  Society  for  Constitutional  Information  is  therefore 
required  to  determine  whether  or  no  they  will  be  ready 
when  called  upon  to  act  in  conjunction  with  this  and  other 
societies."  ^  The  London  Constitutional  Society,  however, 
had  no  intention  of  incriminating  itself,  and,  although  re- 

'  Place  MSS.,  27.811. 
'  Ibid.,  22,814,  P-  "^y^- 
2  Siate  Trials,  xxiv,  562. 


169]  ^^^  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  1 69 

turning  a  conciliatory  answer,  refused  to  engage  in  co- 
operative action. 

Outside  of  London,  greater  success  was  met  with.  As 
early  as  May,  1792,  a  general  address  was  drawn  up  and 
distributed  to  the  various  reform  associations  of  the  coun- 
try. A  quick-fire  exchange  of  letters  between  these  socie- 
ties at  once  began.  Apparently  the  London  Corresponding 
Society  became  the  tacitly  recognized  head  of  this  move- 
ment. Some  organizations  submitted  themselves  to  its 
guidance.  Others  proffered  aid.  Some  sent  money,  while 
from  many  sources  came  tales  of  disaster;  we  hear  of  de- 
faulting treasurers,  betrayal  within  and  oppression  w'ithout. 
Many  complained  that  no  attention  was  paid  to  their  com- 
munications, frequently  expressing  their  fear  that  the  post- 
ofifice  would  confiscate  their  missives. 

Graphic  accounts  set  forth  conditions  in  widely  separ- 
ated localities.^  The  Derby  correspondent  wrote  that  the 
Militia  Bill  had  met  there  with  much  opposition.  "  Two 
radical  meetings  have  been  held.  Five  hundred  people 
were  present,  while  the  cavalry  and  the  fifteenth  infantry 
were  under  arms.  I  had  a  strong  contention  with  Justice 
Murray,"  he  writes.  "  Lie  read  the  riot  act  and  threatened 
to  arrest  me.  The  miners  themselves  are  determined  to 
reply  to  force  by  force."  A  parade  then  followed,  in  which 
an  effigy  of  Pitt  was  carried,  and  the  writer  closes  with 
these  words:  "Afterwards  I  attempted  two  meetings,  but 
no  sooner  had  I  begun  to  address  the  people  than  an  old 
Justice  of  the  Peace  ordered  me  to  be  arrested.     The  citi- 

1  For  correspondence  with  Sheffield,  Edinburgh,  Birmingham,  New- 
castle, Bristol,  Norwich  and  Hertford,  see  State  Trials,  xxiv,  406,  407, 
410,  483,  484,  4.8s,  486  respectively.  For  further  information  from  Bir- 
mingham and  Sheffield,  see  Place  MSS.,  27,813,  pp.  365  and  565.  For 
the  financial  affairs  of  the  Sheffield  Society,  and  an  abridge  J  constitu- 
tion ;  and  also  for  correspondence  with  Norwich,  Exeter,  Portsmouth 
and  Manchester,  see  Place  MSS.,  27,815,  p.  93. 


lyo  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [170 

zens  present  surrounded  me,  declaring  that  they  would 
sooner  die  than  allow  me  to  be  taken.  Had  I  not  inter- 
posed, the  parson  would  have  surely  been  thrown  into  the 
river."  ^ 

Fertile  in  expedients  and  ideas  are  some  of  these  asso- 
ciations. Sometimes  they  even  take  the  initiative.  As  an 
illustration,  we  find  the  friends  of  the  people  in  Norwich 
calling  on  the  London  Society  to  join  with  them  in  pro- 
curing a  smaller  and  more  equitable  division  of  all  of  the 
land  of  the  country,  as  a  reasonable  means  of  both  lower- 
ing prices,  and  providing  employment.^ 

Although  in  this  correspondence  first  place  was  accorded 
to  clubs  and  societies,  letters  to  and  from  individuals  are 
frequently  recorded.  An  editor  was  told  to  "  pluck  up 
courage;  that  the  clergy  and  courtiers  are  not  so  numerous 
as  they  appear."  ^  Resolutions  and  addresses  to  individ- 
uals were  frequently  accompanied  by  a  personal  appeal, 
carefully  and  respectfully  worded.  Such  a  one  was  sent 
to  a  certain  Mr.  Mollis,  and  signed  by  Thomas  Hardy.  "  T 
trust  you  will  pardon  me,"  writes  Hardy,  "  the  freedom 
taken  with  you,  sir,  but  I  do  assure  you  it  proceeds  from 
an  ardent  zeal  to  propagate  the  knowledge  of  our  design 
to  the  friends  of  freedom,  that  they  may  have  an  opportu- 
nity of  writing  in  promoting  that  important  cause  in  which 
we  are  engaged.  .\ny  information  from  you  tending  to 
accelerate  that  grand  design,  would  be  cordially  received." 
By  letters  of  this  kind,  sent  out  as  feelers,  important  data 
were  gathered  as  to  the  number  and,  more  important  still, 
the  names  of  possible  converts  or  allies.* 

1  Place  MSS.,  27,814,  P-  156. 

^  Public  Advertiser,  May  26,  1792. 

^  Place  MSS.,  27,814,  p.  187. 

*  March  9,  1792,  Hardy  writes  to  Rev.  Mr.  Bryant,  of  Sheffield,  and 
after  some  preHminary  compliments,  requests  the  addresses  of  Shef- 
field men.    Place  MSS.,  27.811. 


171]  THE  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  171 

Again,  letters,  printed  and  distributed  very  much  as 
handbills,  were  circulated  with  copies  of  the  society's  reso- 
lutions. They  were  sent  apparently  in  accordance  with  a 
regular  system.  First  of  all  a  man  with  suspected  radical 
sympathies  would  receive  a  letter  reading :  "  Dear  Sir : 
Knowing  you  to  be  a  friend  of  freedom,  I  take  the  liberty 
of  sending  you  a  copy.  ..."  If  this  communication  met 
with  no  reply,  a  second  appeal  was  sent.  It  informed  the 
reader  that  the  people  seemed  very  happy  in  hugging  their 
delusions.  "  I  shall  not  disturb  their  repose,"  continues  the 
writer,  "  nor  trouble  you  with  any  more  of  our  crude 
thoughts  until  I  have  an  answer  from  you."  ^ 

The  society  was  not  always  so  painstaking  in  its  corres- 
pondence. It  replied  sharply  to  one  correspondent,  whose 
address  it  had  refused  to  receive,  "  Your  statements  are  too 
low  and  contemptuous."  Or  perhaps,  on  the  other  hand, 
caution  and  moderation  are  advised,  as  may  be  seen  in  an- 
swer to  a  letter  from  a  certain  Martin  in  Turo.  who  wrote 
"  that  the  inhabitants  are  at  a  white  heat  in  the  republican 
cause,  and  ready  to  strike  at  the  root  of  the  matter."  " 

The  published  writings  of  the  London  Corresponding 
Society  comprised  addresses,  petitions,  and  public  appeals 
of  one  sort  or  another.  Their  first  address  is  dated  May, 
1 79 1.  After  a  preamble,  stating  the  necessity  of  reform, 
and  relating  the  circumstances  of  the  society's  foundation, 
the  address  pleads  for  popular  support  in  these  words: 
"  Inasmuch  as  every  individual  has  a  right  to  share  in  the 
government,  it  behooves  each  and  every  citizen  to  keep  a 
watchful  eye  upon  the  government."  ^ 

1  Place  MSS.,  27,814,  p.  185. 

^  Ibid.,  27,815.     In  the  Manuscript  Minutes  of  the  society,  the  word 
republican  is  scratched  out,  and  the  word  sentimental  substituted. 
^  State  Trials,  xxiv,  378. 


172  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [172 

This  address  "  to  the  public  "  is  followed  shortly  by  a 
more  elaborate  one,  "  to  the  British  nation."  We  are  told 
that  notoriously  burdensome  taxes  exist  in  Great  Britain; 
that  the  cause  of  this  grievance  lies  in  the  corrupt  composi- 
tion and  venal  practices  of  the  House  of  Commons;  and 
that  the  Corresponding  Society  exists  for  the  purpose  of 
inquiring  into  and  making  public  "  the  exact  state  of  the 
present  Parlianientary  representation — for  obtaining  a 
peaceful  but  adequate  remedy  to  this  intolerable  grievance, 
and  for  corresponding  and  co-operating  with  other  so- 
cieties, founded  for  the  same  object."  ^  Further  details 
dealing  with  the  constitution  of  the  society  follow.  The 
address  concludes  with  an  array  of  facts  and  figures  to  the 
effect  that  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons  are  re- 
turned by  not  more  than  one-thousandth  part  of  the  nation.^ 
Later  in  the  same  year  was  issued  an  "Address  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  Great  Britain,"  and  from  time  to  time  other  ad- 
dresses were  issued,  in  purport  and  tenor  differing  but  little 
from  those  we  have  already  quoted. 

Petitions  of  the  society  were  sent  to  various  men  of 
prominence.  Dundas,  the  arch  enemy  of  radicalism,  was 
the  recipient  of  one  of  these.  On  the  fourth  of  December, 
1792,  the  society  petitioned  him  in  regard  to  certain  illegal 
persecutions  which  they  laid  at  his  door.  Margarot,  with 
customary  boldness,  wrote:  "  I,  therefore,  in  behalf  of  your 
fellow  citizens,  this  day,  call  upon  the  king's  ministers  to 
protect  and  uphold  us  in  the  pursuit  of  our  constitutional 
rights."  He  objected  "  to  the  saucy  interference  by 
usurped  authority  of  men  unnamed,  working  with  threats 
upon  the  fears  of  uninformed  publicans."  ^ 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  380.  2  Ilid.,  p.  382. 

3  Journal  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society,  Place  MSS.,  27,812, 
vol.  ii. 


173]  '^^^  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  1 73 

The  activities  of  the  Corresponding  Society  met  with 
little  sympathy  from  men  of  high  rank.  That  Dundas 
would  regard  their  claims  with  a  favorable  eye  was  scarcely 
within  the  bomids  of  possibility.  A  different  treatment 
might  have  been  expected  from  Fox.  Yet  when  the  society 
recpiested  him  to  present  their  petition  to  Parliament,  the 
Whig  leader  replied  quite  coldly  that  he  was  willing  to  pre- 
sent their  petition,  but  at  the  same  time  he  confessed  that 
"  it  might  with  more  propriety  be  presented  by  some  other 
member,  as  it  was  understood  that  a  radical  reform  was 
contended  for  with  universal  suffrage,  to  which  he  had  al- 
ways been  an  avowed  enemy."  ^ 

Notwithstanding  this  snubbing  in  aristocratic  quarters, 
the  society  planned  a  petition  to  the  king  himself.  In  "  An 
address  to  the  King's  Majesty,"  the  petition  ran,  "  we  ap- 
proach with  reverence,  but  with  firmness,  to  lay  before  you 
our  grievances,  in  order  that  you  may  redress  them."  ^ 

It  was  one  thing  to  plan  this  petition,  and  quite  another 
to  get  it  before  the  eyes  of  King  George.  A  deputation 
was  sent  to  deliver  it  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  so  that  it 
might  reach  the  king  through  the  regular  channels.  It 
never  did, — it  reached  only  the  privy  council.  Another 
committee  waited  upon  the  Duke  of  Portland,  and  handed 
their  document  to  his  servant,  who  carried  it  to  the  ducal 
secretary.  The  servant  brought  back  word  that  there 
would  be  no  answer.  He  was  then  sent  again  by  the 
delegates  to  inquire,  apparently,  whether  the  petition 
would  be  received.     The   reply  this  time  was  that  mes- 

"^  Journal  London  Corresponding  Society,  Place  MSS.,  27,812. 

2  Ibid.  Before  the  attempted  presentation  the  petition  was  changed 
to  read :  "  We  approach  you  in  the  exercise  of  our  constitutional 
right  to  lay  before  you  the  distresses  of  the  people  occasioned  by  the 
present  war."  This  address  was  afterwards  printed  and  distributed  in 
London  by  order  of  the  society. 


1^4  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [174 

sages  could  only  be  received  in  writing.  Finally,  the  in- 
cjuiry  having  been  made  in  writing,  the  servant  returned 
after  a  long  interval,  to  announce  that  the  Duke  of  Port- 
land had  gone  out.^ 

Two  other  publications  of  the  society  are  of  particular 
interest  to  us.  One  of  them  is  entitled,  "  The  London  Cor- 
responding Society's  Addresses  and  Publications;"  the 
other,  "  The  State  of  Representation  in  England  and 
\\'ales."  In  the  former,  the  fundamental  ideals  of  the 
society  are  clearly  set  forth.  "  Numerous  as  our  griev- 
ances are,"  we  read,  "  reform  one  alone  and  the  others  will 
disappear.     What  we  must  have,"  it  argues,  is 

"An  Honest  Parliament, 
An  Annual  Parliament, 

A  Parliament  where  each  individual  will  have  his 
representative. 

Soon  then  we  shall  see  our  liberties  restored,  the  press  free, 
the  laws  simplified,  judges  unbiased,  juries  independent, 
needless  places  and  pensions  retrenched,  immoderate  salar- 
ies reduced,  the  public  better  served,  taxes  diminished,  and 
the  necessaries  of  life  more  within  the  reach  of  the  poor."  ^ 
And  among  other  very  happy  results,  this  Utopian  Par- 
liament was  confidently  expected  to  secure  the  breaking-up 
of  large  farms,  the  depopulation  of  prisons  and  the  re- 
form of  the  English  Poor  Law. 

The  other  pamphlet  (and  with  this  we  close  our  con- 
sideration of  the  publications  of  the  society,  was  the  report 
of  a  committee  of  the  Friends  of  the  People.  The  report, 
revised,  condensed  and  reprinted  by  the  London  Corres- 
ponding Society,  and  one  of  its  offshoots,  "  The  Reforming 

1  Place  MSS.,  27,813,  p.  365. 

2  The  London  Corresponding  Society's  Addresses  and  Publications, 
P-  15- 


175]  THE  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  1 75 

Society,"  was  published  May  14,  1795.  By  this  time  the 
Friends  of  the  People  had  virtually  disbanded.  They  had, 
however,  laid  bare  in  an  exhaustive  report  the  illogical  in- 
equalities of  the  state  of  British  representation,  and  it  was 
a  clever  move  on  the  part  of  the  London  Corresponding 
Society  thus  to  reproduce,  for  their  own  benefit,  the  con- 
clusions of  their  more  gifted,  conservative  neighbor. 
The  report  is  a  clean-cut  statement  which,  without 
rhetoric,  gives  facts  and  figures  to  demonstrate  the  cor- 
ruptions, delays  and  expense  involved  in  electing  the  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Commons.  No  inference  is  drawn ;  no 
specific  reform  is  demanded ;  the  committee  simply  state 
the  conditions  as  they  find  them,  and  conclude  with  a  gen- 
eral statement  which  proves  that  seventeen  boroughs,  con- 
taining on  the  average  under  a  hundred  and  fifty  voters, 
return  twenty-seven  members,  while  2,611  persons  return 
327  members.  The  total  membership  of  the  House  was  at 
this  time  627.  A  majority,  then,  of  81  was  returned  by 
less  than  six  thousand  voters. 

The  London  Corresponding  Society,  like  other  radical 
organizations,  hoped  to  realize  its  aims  through  meetings 
as  w^ell  as  through  correspondence  and  publications.  Public 
meetings,  apparently,  did  not  take  place  early  in  its  career 
but  general  meetings  of  the  members  were  held,  it  is  true, 
and  to  them  the  spies  of  the  government  found  a  ready  ad- 
mission. But  no  meeting  for  the  public  was  held  till  the 
fourteenth  of  April,  1794.  Not  even  this  was  called  a 
public  meeting  of  the  society,  but  the  fact  that  it  was  held 
in  the  open  field  between  London  and  Hampstead,  known 
as  Chalk  Farms,  is  indication  that  a  more  extensive  gath- 
ering was  looked  for.  The  object  of  this  meeting  was  to 
protest  against  the  proceedings  of  the  government  in  dis- 
persing the  British  Convention.     From  two  to  three  thou- 


176  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [176 

sand  people  were  said  to  have  been  present,  and  corres- 
pondence of  great  significance  was  made  public/ 

First,  a  communication  from  the  London  Corresponding 
Society  to  the  Friends  of  the  People  was  read.  The  Cor- 
responding Society  stated  that  '"  it  earnestly  solicits  at 
this  time  the  concurrence  of  the  Friends  of  the  People  in 
assembling  as  speedily  as  the  nature  of  the  business  will 
admit  a  convention  of  the  Friends  of  Freedom.  .  .  .  The 
Friends  of  Reform  are  friends  of  peace  .  .  .  but  they  will 
not  be  alarmed  by  the  threats  of  venal  apostates.  They  will 
not  draw  back  because  they  have  seen  some  of  their  best 
friends  doomed  to  die.  .  .  .  They  will  therefore  look  with 
confidence  to  the  determination  and  to  the  co-operation  of 
the  Society  of  the  Friends  of  the  People  in  the  attainment 
of  an  object  which  involves  the  dearest  interests  of  so- 
ciety." "  The  answer  of  the  Friends  of  the  People  was 
then  read,  assuring  the  Corresponding  Society  of  their 
good  will  but  at  the  same  time  declining  to  participate  in 
the  proposed  convention.  This  refusal  was  received,  save 
for  a  few  hisses,  in  silence.  The  Friends  of  the  People 
had,  at  any  rate,  been  forced  to  show  their  hand. 

After  these  letters,  the  society  passed  ten  resolutions. 
Words  of  praise  and  comfort  were  spoken  for  the  Edin- 
burgh prisoners ;  the  execution  of  Charles  I  and  the  expul- 
sion of  James  II  were  referred  to;  the  society  announced 
its  own  determination  to  stand  by  the  cause  of  freedom  till 
the  end;  and  ordered  that  200,000  copies  of  the  proceed- 
ings be  published.^ 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  22.  -  Ibid.,  xxiv,  735. 

3  The  Chalk  Farms  meeting  created  little  stir.  The  Annual  Register 
does  not  mention  it  at  all.  The  press  gives  but  a  curt  notice.  One 
excerpt  only  is  particularly  interesting.  To  quote  The  Oracle  and 
Public  Advertiser,  May  20,  1794 :  "  Citizens,"  said  an  orator  address- 
ing himself  to  the  society,  "  a  dagger  is  opposed  to  your  views.  The 
point  is  power ;  the  handle  property.  Seize  the  handle  and  you  can  turn 
the  point  wherever  you  will." 


177]  ^^^^^^  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  lyy 

In  the  following  year  the  society  held  its  largest  meet- 
ing. On  November  twelfth  a  mass-meeting  in  Copen- 
hagen Fields  protested  against  the  suppression  of  free 
speech  by  the  Seditious  Meetings  Bill,  and  the  continued 
suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  Francis  Place, 
an  eye-witness,  tells  us  that  "  the  number  of  people  at  the 
public  meeting  was  certainly  very  large;  "  the  Proceedings 
published  by  order  of  the  society  claim  upwards  of  150,000. 
This  may  be  an  exaggeration.  There  were,  however, 
"  three  platforms,  called  tribunes,  erected  at  what  were 
supposed  to  be  convenient  distances.  Each  of  these  plat- 
forms was  surrounded  by  a  vast  number  of  persons.  So 
great,  indeed,  was  the  number,  that  not  one-half  of  the 
spectators  could  get  near  enough  to  hear  a  single  word  of 
what  was  said  by  the  speakers.  .  .  .  The  purpose  of  the 
meeting  was  an  address  to  the  nation,  a  remonstrance  to 
the  king,  and  resolutions  thought  applicable  to  the  alarming- 
crisis."  ^  In  the  history  of  freedom  of  speech  this  meeting- 
has  an  important  place.  Much  attention  has  accordingly 
been  given  to  it  by  historians,  and  copious  extracts  from 
the  proceedings  are  to  be  frequently  met  with.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  other  meetings  of  the  society.  The 
London  Corresponding  Society,  as  a  defender  of  the  rights 
of  free  speech,  has  had  its  full  meed  of  attention,  and  that 
phase  of  its  activity  needs  no  further  emphasis.  A  brief 
mention,  however,  of  two  meetings  is  of  interest. 

At  the  last  public  meeting  of  the  society,  held  in  June, 
1795,  in  St.  Mary-le-bone  Fields,  Regent's  Park,  among  the 
resolutions  passed  we  find,  "  that  neither  the  Commons, 
nor  the  Lords,  nor  the  King,  nor  the  three  combined  can 
be  considered  as  having  the  power  to  enslave  the  people, 
but  that  they  may  either  separately  or  unitedly  do  such  acts 

»  Place  MSS.,  27,808,  p.  39- 


j^g  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [178 

as  would  justify  the  resistance  of  the  people."  ^  This  Avas 
the  last  meeting  actually  held  after  the  passage  of  the 
Treason  and  Sedition  Bills.  A  sporadic  attempt  was  made 
on  July  thirteenth,  1797,  to  hold  another.  Notice  of  the 
meeting  was  posted.  Then  came  a  notice  of  the  magistrates 
forbidding  it.  Conferences  were  held,  with  no  result.  The 
meeting  was  permitted  to  start.  Magistrates,  stationed 
with  constables  at  the  foot  of  every  tribune,  arrested  the 
speakers.^ 

These  three  campaign  methods — correspondence,  publica- 
tions and  public  meetings — were  the  general  means  adopted 
by  the  Corresponding  Society.  Similar  methods  were 
adopted  by  the  other  radical  associations  throughout  the 
nation.  Our  information  concerning  them  is  far  from  full. 
Yet  we  have  sufficient  data  to  conclude  that  the  procedure 
was  not  different  from  that  outlined. 

What  was  the  strength  of  these  societies?  In  the  True 
Briton  newspaper  we  are  given  Burke's  estimate  of  the 
number  of  pronounced  radicals,  or,  as  he  called  them. 
Jacobins.  Burke  believed  that  the  total  number  of  adults 
of  some  standing  in  England  approximated  400,000.  Of 
these,  he  says  one-fifth,  or  some  80,000,  were  Jacobins. 
The  True  Briton  states  that  this  percentage  was  too  large ;  ^ 
the  facts  apparently  would  sustain  its  contention,  and 
as  an  indication  of  the  correctness  of  the  newspaper's 
conclusion,  we  may  be  reasonably  certain  that  the  London 
Corresponding  Society  had  fewer  members  than  was  popu- 
larly believed.  The  reputed  number  was  upwards  of  five 
thousand.  The  minutes,  however,  which  give  us  detailed  in- 
formation concerning  the  membership  of  the  society  at  dif- 
ferent times,  tell  another  story. 

1  Place  MSS.,  27,808,  p.  64.  "  Ibid.,  p.  81. 

'  The  True  Briton,  Monday,  Jan.  30,  1797. 


179]  THE  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  179 

An  effort  was  made  early  in  the  history  of  the  organiza- 
tion to  include  all  the  societies  outside  of  London  in  one 
general  national  association.  This  endeavor  received  a 
set-back  soon  after  its  proposal,  for  we  find  that  a  motion 
to  send  a  letter  to  all  the  radical  societies  in  the  country, 
inviting  them  to  adopt  our  title  "  and  to  incorporate  them- 
selves W'ith  us,"  was  negatived,  on  the  ground  that  Tewks- 
bury  radicals  had  already  declined  such  an  offer/  The 
roll  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society  was  accordingly 
confined  to  London  radicals,  but  this  shows  that  the  so- 
ciety at  no  time  had  more  than  two  thousand  members.^ 

The  number  of  reformers  incorporated  in  the  other  radi- 
cal societies  can  only  be  surmised.  No  reliance  whatever 
can  be  placed  on  the  statement  of  the  boastful  Margarot. 
that  in  Sheffield  alone  there  were  fifty  thousand  enrolled 

^  Journal   London   Corresponding   Society,   Place  MSS.,  27,812. 

2  The  first  record  that  we  have,  shortly  after  the  founding  of  the 
society,  details  the  number  of  men  in  each  division.  At  that  time, 
Thursday,  October  fourth,  1792,  there  were  reported  ten  divisions,  con- 
taining a  membership  of  three  hundred  and  eighty-seven.  Six  weeks 
from  that  date  the  number  of  divisions  was  fifteen.  In  two  more 
weeks  it  had  risen  to  twenty-seven,  and  on  the  fourth  of  April,  1792, 
1328  signatures  were  on  the  muster  roll.  During  the  opening  year  of 
the  French  war,  however,  an  actual  decline  occurred,  for,  with  the 
advent  of  the  famous  state  trials,  and  the  awakening  radical  en- 
thusiasm of  1794,  bringing  as  it  did  an  increase  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four  in  the  month  of  July,  the  total  number  is  only  nine 
hundred  and  seventy.  The  next  month  a  further  increase  took  place. 
A  hundred  and  ninety-three  new  members  were  reported  and,  at  a 
general  meeting  of  the  society  held  in  the  same  month,  there  were 
present  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-eight  members.  This 
is  the  largest  actual  count  which  we  have.  At  one  of  the  public  meet- 
ings of  the  society,  nearly  two  thousand  members  were  said  to  have 
attended.  Th-?  society  itself  never  officially  claimed  a  larger  mem- 
bership. 


iSo  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [l8o 

radicals.^  It  is  true  that  a  Sheffield  magistrate  proclaimed 
that  there  was  in  his  town  "  a  most  horrid  conspiracy 
against  state  and  church  under  the  pretence  of  reform," 
and  that  various  pikes,  spears,  and  "  cats  "  were  there  un- 
earthed. Nevertheless,  to  believe  that  there  were  fifty 
thousand  desperate  radicals  in  and  about  Sheffield,  when 
London  harbored  but  little  over  a  thousand,  is  unthink- 
able. Magistrates,  to  be  sure,  were  obsessed  by  the  vision 
of  a  red  tide  of  anarchy.  The  Rev.  John  Griffith,  of  Man- 
chester, became  tremendously  excited  over  a  suspected 
"  damning  of  Parliament,"  while  Carles  and  Spence,  two 
magistrates  of  Birmingham,  took  great  pride  in  ferreting 
out  malcontents.  In  Norwich  there  was  more  cause  for 
alarm.  The  city  was  said  to  have  been  a  hot-bed  of  radi- 
calism, and  even  the  claim  is  made  that  the  first  intimation 
of  a  general  convention  of  the  people  came  from  Norwich. 
Radicalism,  indeed,  must  have  been  firmly  entrenched  there, 
for  in  the  city  were  some  thirty  different  clubs. 

London,  Norwich  and  Edinburgh  w^ere  the  great  centres 
of  the  radical  propaganda,  yet  the  radical  clubs  in  those 
towns  certainly  contained  no  very  large  proportion  of  the 
inhabitants,  and  it  is  not  unfair  to  assume  that  in  the  coun- 
try districts  radicalism  made  less  headway.  Burke's  esti- 
mate of  fifty  thousand  must  be  cut  in  half.  There  is  no 
trustworthy  evidence  to  show  that  more  than  one-tenth  of 
the  adult  male  population  was  enrolled  in  the  radical  asso- 
ciations. 

We  may  be  equally  certain  that  the  financial  backing  of 
these  organizations  was  negligible.  Here  again  our  only 
detailed  source  of  information  is  the  minute  book  of 
the  London  Corresponding  Society,  according  to  which, 
the    following    provision    was    made    for    financial    sup- 

1  State  Trials,  xxiii,  414. 


l8i]  THE  RADICAL  SOCIETIES  l8i 

port:  "  Each  member  shall  pay  to  the  section  of  his  division 
one  penny  a  week."  ^  Averaging  but  little  over  a  dollar  i 
year  for  the  individual,  the  society  could  hardly  have  been 
accused  of  affluence.  Great  difficulties  were  indeed  encoun- 
tered. On  July  nineteenth,  1792,  we  discover  from  the 
treasurer's  books  that  the  assets  were  nine  pounds  and  five 
shillings.  The  liabilities  at  that  time  were  six  pounds, 
seven  shillings  and  eleven  pence."  This  situation  im- 
proved somewhat  by  the  next  year;  when  a  mass-meeting 
was  then  debated,  a  total  fund  of  over  thirty  pounds  was 
on  hand.  During  the  following  year  the  receipts  of  the 
treasurer  show  that  between  April  ninth  and  June  thirtieth, 
over  sixty  pounds  was  collected.^  Taking  this  as  an  aver- 
age quarter,  the  annual  income  of  the  society  would  ap- 
pear to  have  been  under  two  hundred  pounds.^ 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  380. 

2  Journal  of  London  Corresponding  Society,  Place  MSS.,  27,812. 
s  Place  MSS.,  27,813,  p.  365- 

*  Place  MSS.,  27,808,  p.  78. 

Aid  was  received  from  outside  sources  for  the  legal  expenses  of 
defending  indicted  members.  From  Derby  came  four  pounds  four 
shillings.  Portsmouth  sent  two  subscriptions,  and  other  towns  aided. 
Erskine,  also,  in  the  trial  of  Hardy,  gave  his  services  free  of  charge, 
so  that,  for  that  trial  the  only  expenses  were  seventeen  shillings  for 
subpoenaing  witnesses.  Frequently,  however,  the  society  was  much 
put  to  it  for  money.  Particularly  was  this  true  toward  the  end  of 
its  existence.  Special  circulars  were  sent  to  members  urging  a  re- 
newed generosity.  This,  however,  availed  but  little,  for  by  October, 
1797,  the  receipts  had  dwindled  to  but  little  over  thirty  pounds.  Ibid., 
27,815,  p.  183. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  British  Convention 

origin_,  proceedings  and  dispersion.    inner  purpose  of 
convention.     theory  of  the  government  sub- 
stantiated 

We  have  now  outlined  the  major  activities  of  organized 
radicalism.  Did  it  attempt  other  enterprises?  And,  if  so, 
were  these  endeavors  legal,  or  illegal?  Were  they  broached 
merely  as  tentative  suggestions,  or  were  they  in  reality  un- 
dertaken? We  know  that  a  convention  of  delegates  did 
actually  convene  at  Edinburgh,  November  29.  1793,  for  a 
brief  existence  of  fourteen  days.  What  significance  may 
be  attached  to  that  meeting?  What  spirit  animated  its 
leaders?  Their  plans,  what  were  they?  To  this  list  of 
questions  no  hard  and  fast  answers  may  be  made.  A  care- 
ful scanning,  however,  of  diverse  evidence,  enables  us  to 
conclude  that  the  "  British  Convention,"  ^  not  only  in  spirit 
exceeded  its  ostensible  purpose,  but  also  in  certain  well- 
defined  emergencies  proposed  a  direct  violation  of  the  law. 

The  first  suggestion  of  an  assembly  of  this  nature  came 
from  Scotland.  As  early  as  1792  various  democratic  socie- 
ties had  been  organized  in  the  Northern  Kingdom.  Those 
in  Edinburgh  united  on  July  twenty-sixth  of  that  year 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Associated  Friends  of  the  People." 
This   association    invited   the   various    local    radical    clubs 

^ "  The  British  Convention  of  Delegates  of  the  People,  associated 
to  obtain  universal  suffrage,  and  annual  Parliaments,"  so  the  title  ran. 
State  Trials,  xxiii,  443. 

182  [182 


183]  THE  BRITISH  CONVENTION  183 

in  Scotland  to  a  convention,  to  be  held  on  December  elev- 
enth, 1792.  That  convention  met;  in  it  the  Edinburgh  dele- 
gates numbered  one-third,  and  no  resolutions  of  moment 
w^ere  passed.  The  meeting  of  this  preliminary  convention 
ended  in  two  days.^ 

In  the  following  April,  the  assembly,  as  yet  purely 
Scottish,  reconvened.  The  London  Corresponding  Society 
got  wind  of  its  meeting.  On  May  thirteenth,  Hardy  wrote 
to  Edinburgh  requesting  a  union  with  the  Edinburgh  re- 
formers," and  a  correspondence  ensued.  In  October,  the 
Edinburgh  societies  requested  their  English  brethren  to 
join  them  in  the  convention.  This  letter  was  dated  October 
fifth.  "  The  delegates  must  reach  Edinburgh,"  they  wrote, 
"  by  the  twenty-ninth  of  the  month."  On  the  twenty- 
fifth,  Hardy  replied  that  the  London  Corresponding  So- 
ciety would  be  represented  by  Gerrald  and  Margaret,  who 
would  shortly  arrive  in  Edinburgh.^ 

The  English  delegates  failed  to  reach  Edinburgh  by  the 
end  of  October  as  planned.  The  convention  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Friends  of  the  People  did  not  await  the  coming  of 
their  English  guests,  but  on  November  first,  1793,  ad- 
journed, to  meet  again  in  1794.*  Immediately  after  ad- 
journment, however,  four  English  delegates  arrived: 
Gerrald  and  Margarot,  from  the  London  Corresponding 
Society :  Sinclair,  from  the  London  Constitutional  Society ; 
and  M.  C.  Brown,  from  Sheffield.^  A  change  of  plan  was 
now  necessitated.  The  Scottish  delegates  were  recalled. 
On  the  nineteenth  of  November,  1793,  they  joined  their 
Endish  brethren,  and  the  session  of  the  Associated  Friends 

1  Mathieson,  Azvakeiiing  of  Scotland,  pp.  125,  127. 

2  State  Trials,  xxiv,  407. 

3  Ibid.,  xxiv,  422.  *  Ibid.,  xxiii,  412. 

*  Brown  afterwards  represented  the  Leeds  Constitutional  Society 
as  well  as  the  Sheffield  group.     Ibid.,  xxiii,  440. 


l84  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [184 

of  the  People  was  continued  under  the  new  name  of  the 
British' Convention.^  One  hundred  and  fifty-three  delegates 
attended  the  sessions,  representing  over  forty  local  socie- 
ties." The  object  of  the  convention  had  been  affirmed  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  the  English  delegates,  and  its  declared 
purpose  was  certainly  made  clear.  "  After  prayers,"  the 
minutes  tell  us,  "  the  convention  proceeded  to  the  further 
consideration  of  the  motions,  etc.,  on  the  table  relative  to 
the  explicit  construction  to  be  put  on  the  two  original  reso- 
lutions of  the  Association,  namely,  '  a  more  equal  represen- 
tation of  the  people  in  the  Common  House  of  Parliament, 
and  a  shorter  duration  of  Parliamentary  delegation.' " 
And  it  was  proposed  "  that  there  could  and  evidently  would 
be  but  one  sentiment  in  the  house,  that  the  explicit  meaning 
of  the  first  resolution  was  universal  suffrage,  and  of  the 
second  annual  elections,  and  that  nothing  short  of  these 
two  could  be  adequate  to  the  present  universally  corrupt 
state  of  the  nation."  ^ 

The  British  convention,  then,  with  this  end  ostensibly 
in  view,  busied  itself  for  a  few  days  in  details  of  organiza- 
tion. The  whole  body  of  the  convention  was  divided  for 
morning  sessions  into  small  sections,  so  that  individual  de- 
bate might  be  furthered.  On  every  day  the  general  meet- 
ing was  begun  and  ended  with  prayer.  Subscriptions  were 
taken  up  for  expenses,  and  when  somewhat  meagre,  re- 
newed generosity  was  urged,  particularly  upon  the  visit- 

^  The  term  "  British  Convention  "  was  not  applied  till  November  22, 
(see  Minutes  of  the  Convention,  State  Trials,  xxiii,  427). 

^  The  number  is  over  fifty,  if  we  distinguish  between  the  different 
clubs  in  the  same  town.    Ibid.,  xxiii,  391,  392  and  413. 

3  State  Trials,  xxiii,  401.  This  resolution  was  very  solemnly  passed. 
The  delegates  all  arose  and  joined  hands  to  indicate  their  approval. 


185]  T^HE  BRITISH  CONVENTION  185 

ing  spectators.^  Committees  for  visiting  prisoners  were 
appointed;  books  and  pamphlets  were  recommended  to  the 
public."  Many  artless  incidents  marked  the  career  of  the 
assemblage.  The  speeches  were  spirited.  Citizen  Gerrald 
"compared  the  Constitution  of  1688  to  a  dead  horse,"  ^ 
and  ''showed  the  insipidity  of  the  titled  gentlemen  and  the 
propriety  of  the  term  citizen."  French  phraseology  was 
adopted.  The  meetings  were  called  sittings,  the  delegates 
citizens,  and  motions  of  more  or  less  import  were  voted 
upon.  On  December  tenth,  the  convention  was  officially 
dispersed.  The  high  provost  entered  the  hall  and  ordered 
the  delegates  to  depart.  They  agreed  to  go  upon  a  show 
of  force.  This  the  provost  gave  by  placing  his  hand  on 
the  arm  of  the  presiding  officer.  And  thus  the  convention 
ended. 

Had  the  government  taken  no  further  action,  history 
would  have  scarcely  chronicled  this  assemblage.  The 
forced  ending  of  the  sessions,  however,  was  but  a  pre- 
liminary step. 

From  the  beginning  this  gathering  had  been  regarded 
with  suspicion.  The  word  convention  bore  a  far  differ- 
ent connotation  in  1793  from  that  held  in  the  twentieth 
century.  It  had  no  general  application  at  the  earlier  date, 
nor  was  it  a  blanket  term  applied  indiscriminately  to  the 
festive  reunions  of  commercial  travelers  or  to  the 
gatherings  of  bibulous  societies.  A  convention  was  a 
serious  affair.  In  France,  whither  the  eyes  of  the  civil- 
ized   world    were    directed,    a    convention    meant   an    as- 

^  State  Trials,  xxiii,  413. 

2  Ibid.,  xxiii,  422.  One  publisher  offered  to  give  the  Society  one-half 
of  the  proceeds  if  they  would  sell  his  book  for  him. 

3  The  minutes  say  1788,  evidently  misquoting  him.     Ibid.,  xxiii,  438. 


l86  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [l86 

sembly  of  the  people  which,  both  de  jure  and  de  facto,  was 
the  government  of  the  nation.  Furthermore,  in  America, 
delegates  representing  radical  clubs  had  composed  a  so- 
called  Continental  Congress  Avhich  had  declared  itself  the 
government  of  the  country,  and  only  five  years  previously 
a  Constitutional  Convention  had  been  held.  Was  a  similar 
attempt  altogether  improbable  in  Great  Britain? 

The  authorities,  with  this  possibility  constantly  in  mind. 
arrested  several  of  the  leading  members  of  the  convention 
and  tried  them  in  the  Scottish  courts  for  sedition.  William 
Skirving,  Maurice  Margarot  and  Joseph  Gerrald  were 
picked  out  as  ringleaders.  All  three  were  found  guilty  and 
sentenced  to  transportation  for  fourteen  years  beyond  the 
seas.  What  bearing  have  these  trials  upon  our  purpose  ?  A» 
indicative  of  the  "mossbacked"  obscurantism  of  the  Scottish 
law  they  are  valuable.^  The  unfairness  of  the  trials,  the 
legal  definition  of  sedition  as  stated  by  the  bench,  the  stu- 
pidity, ignorance  and  brutality  of  the  judges,  and  the  packed 
jury,  we  must  resolutely  put  to  one  side,  and  review  the 
trials  simply  and  solely  as  evidence  of  the  spirit  and  tem- 
per of  the  convention. 

Taking  up  the  indictment  of  Margarot  as  fairly  repre- 
sentative of  the  attitude  of  the  government,  we  find  the 
convention  charged  with  holding  meetings  which,  "  though 
held  under  the  pretence  of  procuring  a  reform  in  Parlia- 
ment, were  evidently  of  a  dangerous  and  destructive  ten- 
dency, with  a  deliberate  and  determined  intention  to  dis- 
turb the  peace  of  the  community  and  to  subvert  the  present 
constitution  of  the  country."  ^ 

1  For  an  able  exposition  of  the  legal  phases  of  the  trials,  see  Cock- 
Iburn,  Examination  of  the  Trials  for  Sedition  in  Scotland,  passim. 

-  State  Trials,  xxiii,  6og. 


187]  THE  BRITISH  CONVENTION  187 

This  indictment  the  crown  proposed  to  substantiate  in 
three  ways :  first,  by  deductions  drawn  from  the  general 
tenor  of  the  meetings,  such  as  the  adoption  of  French 
phraseology,  customs,  etc.  ;^  secondly,  by  an  effort  to 
demonstrate  that  universal  suffrage  and  annual  Parlia- 
ments were,  in  themselves,  not  only  unconstitutional,  but 
directly  contributory  to  sedition ;  thirdly,  by  the  specific 
charge  that  the  accused  proposed  actual  resistance  to  the 
law.  The  first  and  second  of  these  ways  of  approach  we 
may  dismiss  as  too  shadowy  for  discussion,  but  investigation 
proves  the  third  more  important.  Margarot  is  directly 
charged  with  favoring  the  following  motion,  which  the  in- 
dictment alleges  to  have  been  passed  by  the  convention, 
to  wit:  "This  Convention,  considering  calamitous  conse- 
quence of  any  act  of  legislature  which  may  tend  to  deprive 
the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  people  of  their  undoubted 
right  to  meet  ...  do  hereby  declare,  before  God  and  the 
world,  that  we  shall  follow  the  wholesome  example  of 
former  times,  by  paying  no  regard  to  an}^  act  which  shall 
militate  against  the  constitution  of  our  country,  and  shall 
continue  to  assemble  and  consider  the  best  means  by  which 
we  can  accomplish  a  real  representation  of  the  people  and 
annual  election  until  compelled  to  desist  by  superior  force. 
And  we  do  resolve  that  the  first  notice  given  for  the  intro- 
duction of  a  convention  bill,  or  any  bill  of  a  similar  ten- 
dency to  that  passed  in  Ireland  in  the  last  session  of  Par- 
liament, or  any  bill  for  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus 
act;  or  the  act  for  preventing  wrongous  imprisonment  or 

1  Much  significance  was  attributed  to  the  use  of  the  word  "  Tocsin." 
Lord  Swinton,  one  of  the  judges,  remarked,  "This  is  a  very  ill 
chosen  word.  It  is  an  instrument  made  use  of  by  the  people  in 
France  to  assemble.  It  is  borrowed  from  a  place  from  which  I  would 
wish  to  borrow  little."  Ibid.,  xxiii,  625.  The  defence  tried  to  prove 
that  the  word  was  of  Chinese,  rather  than  of  French  origin. 


1 88  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [lS8 

against  undue  delays  in  trials  in  North  Britain;  or  in  case 
of  invasion;  or  in  the  admission  of  any  foreign  troops 
whatever  into  Great  Britain  or  Ireland;  all  or  any  of  these 
calamitous  circumstances  shall  be  a  signal  to  the  different 
delegates  to  repair  to  such  place  as  the  secret  committee 
shall  appoint."  ^ 

Did  Margarot  make  this  motion,  and  was  it  adopted? 
At  the  outset  it  may  be  confessed  that  no  positive  proof 
exists  that  this  particular  motion  was  made  or  passed. 
The  evidence  presented  at  the  trial  was  confined  to  the 
minutes  and  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses;  and  as  Lord 
Cockburn,  the  historian,  with  one  exception,  well  states : 
"  A  person  anxious  for  the  proof  will  obtain  little  satis- 
faction from  either  of  these  sources.  The  minutes,  though 
apparently  honest  and  even  rashly  open,  are  meagre,  ab- 
rupt, desultory  and  confused,  and  read  as  if  they  had  been 
jotted  amid  the  noise  and  interruptions  of  each  sitting. 
And  the  witnesses,  instead  of  being  required  to  explain 
fully,  and  in  their  own  way,  what  the  convention  really 
aimed  at,  are  chiefly  examined  on  detached  points."  " 

This  summary  rings  true,  save  for  one  flaw,  indicated 
in  Lord  Cockburn's  use  of  the  words  "  rashly  open."  It 
is  strange  that  "  rashly  open  minutes  "  should  leave  a  blank 
space  where  certain  important  motions  and  important 
speeches  should  be  inserted.  Nevertheless  we  find  that 
instances  of  this  are  both  significant  and  numerous.  On 
the  eighth  day's  sitting,  November  twenty-seventh,  1793, 
the  exact  words  of  the  minutes  are :  "  The  minutes  being 
read,  a  motion  was  read  and  presented  by  ]\Ir.  Walter 
Hart,  2"tled  by  Citizen  Calder,  that  no  notes  be  allowed  to 

^  State  Trials,  xxiii,  611. 

2  Cockbnrn.  Tria!  for  Sedition,  i.  223. 


189]  THE  BRITISH  CONVENTION  189 

be  taken  but "  (here  the  minutes  leave  a  blank 

space)/ 

On  the  thirteenth  day's  sitting  we  are  told  that  "  Citizen 
]\'Iargarot  opposed  the  business  as  foreign  to  that  for 
which  we  were  met  upon,  and  thought  it  unnecessary  to  at- 
tempt to  lop  off  the  branches  while  we  were  endeavoring 
to "  (here  again  we  have  the  blank  space). ^ 

Still  more  eloquent  are  the  minutes  for  November 
twenty-eighth.  "Citizen  Sinclair  read  the  amendment  upon 
Citizen  Callender's  motion,  as  agreed  upon  by  the  com- 
mittee. And  it  was  resolved,  upon  the  motion  of  Cit. 
that  the  House  should  resolve  itself  into  a  com- 
mittee for  its  mature  consideration.  In  the  course  of  the 
conversation  Citizen  Brown  gave  an  explanation  of  the 
habeas  corpus  act.  After  an  excellent  discussion  of  the 
question,  pertinent  remarks  and  amendments,  the  conven- 
tion was  resumed,  and  the  whole  as  amended  being  read 
over,  the  members  stood  upon  their  feet  and  solemnly  and 

unanimously  passed  the  resolution  as  follows:  ."  ^ 

(Who  proposed  this  motion,  and  what  it  was,  the  "rashly 
open  minutes"  do  not  state.) 

We  know,  however,  from  the  minutes,  that  great  alarm 
was  occasioned  by  the  Irish  Convention  Bill  which  broke 
up  political  meetings  in  Ireland.  We  know  that  one,  Cal- 
lender,  moved  that  the  appearance  of  such  a  bill  in  the 
House  of  Commons  should  be  a  signal  for  an  immediate 
gathering  of  the  delegates.  We  know  that  Margarot  did 
not  consider  this  motion  definite  enough  and  the  convention 

^  State  Trials,  xxiii,  431.  The  only  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
convention  which  we  have  after  November  ninth  was  taken  from  "  The 
Edinburgh  Gazette."  It  was  admitted  to  evidence  by  the  government 
on  the  same  basis  as  the  minutes  of  the  earlier  proceedings. 

2  Ibid.,  xxiii,  441. 

^  Ibid.,  xxiii,  433. 


I^o  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [igo 

supported  him  by  voting  an  unanimous  approval  of  the 
spirit  of  Callender's  motion,  while  expressly  disavowing  its 
wording/  We  are  also  aware  that  the  formation  of  a 
more  decisive  resolution  was  referred  to  a  committee  and 
that  a  report  of  the  committee  was  made.  The  report  was 
unanimously  approved,^  but  what  it  contained  we  can  only 
surmise.  The  minutes  are  silent,  and  their  silence  is  not 
without  significance.  They  state,  "  It  passed  unanimously 
in  the  form  of  a  declaration  and  resolution  {vide  end  of 
this  case)."  The  conclusion  of  that  day's  proceedings  is 
marked  in  the  minutes :  "  A  secret  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  fix  a  place  for  the  meeting  of  the  convention 
under  the  circumstances  mentioned  in  the  preceding  reso- 
lution." ^  Of  the  words  of  this  motion  we  are  left  in  ignor- 
ance, but  immediately  upon  the  passage  of  this  unknown  res- 
olution, Gerrald  congratulated  the  convention  on  its  action, 
and  then  passionately  denounced  the  Convention  Bill  in 
Ireland.  He  was  followed  in  similar  strain  by  Brown  of 
Sheffield.  Why  should  the  resolution  which  they  praised 
have  been  concealed? 

The  leaders  of  the  convention  must  now  have  felt  that 
the  days  of  the  assemblage  w^ere  well-nigh  spent.  The 
second  day  after  Margarot  made  his  announcement  of  a 
secret  committee,  he  spoke  at  some  length  of  the  enmity 
of  certain  influential  people  towards  the  convention.  He 
also  urged  that  preparations  be  made  against  dispersion. 
"  \Ve  have  already,"  he  said,  "  appointed  a  secret  com- 
mittee for  fixing  a  place  of  meeting  on  certain  emergencies, 
and  we  ought  to  be  equally  well  provided  against  the  pres- 
ent case;  for  if  we  should  happen  to  be  dispersed  to-night, 

^  State  Trials,  xxiii,  456. 
-  Ibid.,  xxiii,  456. 
^  Ibid.,  xxiii,  459. 


191]  THE  BRITISH  CONVENTION  I^T 

how  or  where  are  we  to  rally  again?  "  ^  To  confront  this 
situation  Margarot  proposed  "  that  the  moment  of  any  il- 
legal dispersion  of  the  present  convention  shall  be  consid- 
ered as  a  summons  to  the  delegates  to  repair  to  the  place  of 
meeting  to  be  appointed  for  the  convention  of  emergency, 
and  that  the  secret  committee  be  directed,  without  delay, 
to  fix  the  place  of  meeting."  ^  This  motion  was  passed. 
The  next  morning  Margarot  was  arrested,  and  the  day  of 
his  arrest  saw  the  dispersion  of  the  convention. 

So  much  for  the  light  thrown  by  the  minutes.  The  de- 
tailed examination  of  the  witnesses,  moreover,  makes  it 
additionally  clear  that  some  action,  at  least,  was  taken  by 
the  convention  looking  toward  illegal  activity  in  the  future. 
One,  Cockburn,  asknowledged  that  he  had  heard  of  a  pro- 
posed session  in  case  of  a  British  Convention  Bill,  and 
thought  he  had  heard  something  similar  concerning  an 
invasion  of  foreign  troops."  Cockburn  v;as  a  member  of 
the  convention.  Aitcheson,  who  was  assistant  secretary 
of  the  convention,  corroborated  this  testimony.  He  fur- 
thermore said,  "  I  came  in  one  evening  pretty  late,  and 
Mr.  Sinclair,  or  some  person,  had  made  a  motion,  and  as 
soon  as  I  had  taken  my  seat,  Mr.  Sinclair  made  a  motion 
that  something  that  had  been  passed  before  should  be 
burned.  And  I  was  surprised,  and  I  got  up  and  opposed 
it,  and  it  was  seconded  upon  the  ground  that  as  everything 
we  had  done  before  was  open  to  the  public,  we  should  do 
nothing  secret,  and  therefore  the  motion  was  not  car- 
ried." ■*  These  recollections  were  to  some  extent  corrob- 
orated by  the  brothers  Rice,  although  both  brothers  were 
much  troubled  by  loss  of  memory.  Upon  this  testimony 
alone  Margarot  was  convicted  of  sedition.     The  evidence, 

1  State  Trials,  xxiii,  464.  2  Ihid.,  xxiii,  465. 

3  Ibid.,  xxiii,  647.  *  Ibid.,  xxiii,  654. 


ig2  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [iq2 

scanty  for  legal  conviction,  is  none  the  less  significant  as 
indicative  of  the  spirit  animating  the  leaders  of  the  con- 
vention. That  Margarot  was  an  active  agent  in  propos- 
ing a  new  convention  in  certain  emergencies  seems  reason- 
ably clear.  Just  what  those  emergencies  were  we  have  no 
definite  knowledge. 

Further  light  is  thrown  on  the  proposed  plans  by  cer- 
tain English  evidence,  which  does  not  appear  in  the  Scotch 
trials.  This  evidence,  found  in  the  proceedings  of  the  gov- 
ernment against  Thomas  Hardy  for  high  treason,  and  sup- 
plemented by  sundry  other  inferences,  would  seem  to  bear 
out  the  government's  contention  that  the  proposed  conven- 
tion intended  to  usurp  the  function  of  Parliament.  In  the 
trials  of  the  next  year,  it  was  proven  that  Margarot  wrote 
to  Hardy  that  a  secret  committee  was  to  call  together  a 
new  convention  in  certain  cases.  "  Thus  you  see,"  wTites 
Margarot.  "  we  are  providing  against  what  may  happen.'" 
Then  he  adds,  "letters  convey  imperfectly,  and  with  no 
great  degree  of  safety,  what  we  may  wish  to  inform  each 
other  of."  ^  The  London  Corresponding  Society  was  ap- 
parently in  active  sympathy  with  the  British  Convention. 
In  1794,  at  a  general  meeting  held  in  the  Globe  Tavern, 
an  address  was  ratified.  The  preamble  was  long.  In  it 
the  glorification  of  the  Magna  Carta,  the  disparagement 
of  old  Sarum,  and  the  tyranny  of  the  law,  were  equally 
elaborated.  It  ended  with  these  words:  "We  must  now 
choose  at  once  either  liberty  or  slavery  for  ourselves  and 
our  posterity.  Will  you  wait  till  barracks  are  erected  in 
every  village,  and  till  subsidized  Hessians  and  Hanover- 
ians are  upon  us?  There  is  no  redress  for  a  nation  circum- 
stanced as  we  are,  but  in  a  fair,  free  and  full  representation 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  429. 


193]  THE.  BRITISH  CONVENTION  I93 

of  the  people.  We  must  have  redress  from  our  old  laws, 
and  not  from  the  laws  of  plunderers,  enemies  and  op- 
pressors. You  may  ask,  perhaps,  by  what  means  we  are 
to  seek  redress.  We  answer  that  men  in  a  state  of  civil- 
ized society  are  bound  to  seek  redress  of  grievances  from 
the  law  as  long  as  any  redress  can  be  obtained  by  the  laws. 
But  our  common  J\Iaster,  whom  we  serve,  has  taught  us  not 
to  expect  to  gather  grapes  from  thorns,  nor  figs  from 
thistles." 

And  therefore  the  society  resolved,  "  That  during  the 
ensuing  session  of  Parliament  the  general  committee  of  the 
society  do  meet  daily  for  the  purpose  of  watching  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Parliament  and  of  the  administration  of  the 
government  of  this  country,  and,  resolved,  that  upon  the 
first  introduction  of  any  bill  or  motion  inimical  to  the  lib- 
erty of  the  people,  such  as  landing  foreign  troops  in  Great 
Britain  or  Ireland;  for  suspending  the  habeas  corpus  act"; 
for  proclaiming  martial  law;  or  for  preventing  the  people 
from  meeting  in  societies  for  constitutional  information, 
or  any  other  innovation  of  a  similar  nature;  that  on  any 
of  these  emergencies  the  general  committee  shall  issue 
summonses  to  the  delegates  of  each  division,  and  also  to 
the  secretaries  of  the  different  societies  affiliated  and  cor- 
responding with  this  society,  forthwith  to  call  a  general 
convention  of  the  people,  to  be  held  at  such  place  and  in 
such  manner  as  shall  be  specified  in  the  summons,  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  such  measures  into  consideration."  ^ 

The  London  Corresponding  Society,  indeed,  had  long 
been  familiar  with  the  idea  of  a  convention.  They  had 
received,  as  early  as  1793,  a  letter  from  a  radical  society 
in  Stockport,  which  stated,  apropos  of  the  looked-for  re- 
form, "  can  we  expect  it  from  the  present  order  of  things? 

1  Stat;  Trials,  xxiv,  ^^5. 


194  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [194 

Would  not  the  evil  be  done  away  with  at  once  by  the  people 
assembled  in  convention  ?  Does  it  appear  probable  that  the 
odious  laws  of  which  we  complain  will  be  abolished  by  any 
other  way?"^  No  sooner  had  the  Edinburgh  convention 
ended  its  sessions  than  another  one  was  suggested.  Not 
only  was  it  proposed  in  the  resolutions  of  the  Correspond- 
ing Society  at  the  Globe  Tavern,  but  delegates  were,  in  cer- 
tain places,  actually  chosen.  "  At  a  general  meeting  of  the 
delegates  of  the  United  Societies  at  Norwich,  held  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  February,  1794,  it  was  resolved  that  one  or 
more  delegates  shall  be  sent  to  the  next  general  convention, 
as  called  for  by  our  London  correspondents."  ^  In  Bristol, 
the  constitutional  society  wrote  to  the  London  organization 
as  follows :  "  We  rejoice  in  your  manly  constitutional  per- 
severance, and  applaud  with  approval  the  resolution  of 
forming  another  general  convention."  ^  This  letter  was 
dated  the  twenty-fourth  of  April,  1794. 

Shefifield  went  even  further.  A  preliminary  meeting  of 
delegates  from  Sheffield  and  the  towns  about,  for  the  forth- 
coming convention,  was  planned  there.  It  was  decided, 
however,  to  delay  the  meeting  until  advice  could  be  ob- 
tained from  London.* 

A  new  convention  undoubtedly  was  to  be  organized. 
How  much  authority  was  it  to  have?  Here  we  must  rely 
on  circumstantial  evidence.  Whether  the  Corresponding 
Society  actually  defined  the  powers  which  the  talked-of 
convention  was  to  hold  we  cannot  tell.  The  minutes  of  the 
Society,  at  least  that  portion  of  them  which  was  not  muti- 

^  The  Second  Report  of  the  Secret  Committee  of  tJie  House  of 
Commons.     The  Senator,  viii,  154. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  208. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  208. 
■*  Ibid.,  p.  210. 


195]  '^^^  BRITISH  CONVENTION  195 

lated/  make  no  further  mention  of  it.  One  speech  and  one 
pamphlet,  however,  are  suggestive. 

The  speech  was  made  by  Barrere  before  the  National 
Convention  in  France.  Barrere  was  an  honorary  member 
of  the  London  Constitutional  Society.  His  speech  was  en- 
tered on  the  books  of  the  Society  in  England,  and  further- 
more, members  of  the  English  society  were  acquainted 
with  him  in  Paris.  Barrere's  speech  was  on  the  topic  of 
conventions.  "  A  convention,"  he  said,  "  differs  from  an 
ordinary  legislature  in  this  respect;  a  legislature  is  only  a 
species  of  a  superintending  magistrate,  a  moderation  of 
the  powers  of  government.  A  convention  is  a  perfect  rep- 
resentative of  the  sovereign.  .  .  .  The  powers  of  a  con- 
vention must,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  assembly,  be 
unlimited  with  respect  to  every  measure  of  the  general 
safety,  such  as  the  execution  of  a  tyranny."  " 

The  pamphlet  takes  this  same  view.  It  was  written  in 
1793  by  Gerrald,  and  entitled,  "  A  Convention,  the  Only 
Means  of  saving  us  from  Ruin."  After  a  long  enumeration 
of  social  and  political  evils,  Gerrald  writes :  "  In  this  awful 
season  of  national  calamity,  I  see  no  other  recourse  than 
interposition  of  the  great  body  of  the  people  themselves, 
electing  deputies  in  whom  they  can  confide,  and  imparting 
instruction  which  they  must  enjoin  to  be  executed."  ^ 

In  closing,  then,  it  is  worth  while  to  note  that,  before 
the  British  convention  met,  the  theory  that  the  people 
might  revolutionize  society  by  electing  delegates  to  a  con- 

1  Hardy  says :  "  The  counsel  for  the  prisoners  very  wisely  cut  the 
leaves  out  of  the  book  .  .  .  fearing  lest  by  any  accident  the  journal 
might  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  government's  sharks."  This  portion, 
one-quarter  of  the  minute  book,  he  said,  contained  only  the  names  of 
prominent  men.     Place  MSS.,  27,812,  vol.  ii. 

2  Secrecy  Committee,  The  Senator,  viii,  89. 
*  Gerrald,  A  Convention,  op.  cit.,  p.  85. 


IqG  BRITISH  radicalism  [ic)6 

vcntion  was  at  least  familiar  to  the  leaders  of  the  conven- 
tion, and  the  fact  that  this  method  of  action  was  the  only 
one  emphasized  by  the  "  Rights  of  Man,"  places  its  signifi- 
cance in  yet  bolder  relief. 

Indeed,  the  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  the  convention 
had  no  intention  of  simply  petitioning  Parliament.  The 
British  radicals  knew  full  well  the  futility  of  that  pro- 
cedure. Lord  Erskine,  the  contemporary  jurist,  was  wrong 
when  he  assured  the  jury  in  the  Hardy  trial  that  the  gov- 
ernment's theory  of  the  convention  planning  to  assume 
and  maintain  by  force  all  the  functions  of  the  State  which 
was  the  charge  imputed  to  it  was  not  within  the  compass 
of  human  belief.^  Lord  Cockburn,  the  modern  historian, 
also  was  wrong  in  describing  the  British  Convention  as 
bent  solely  on  Parliamentary  reform.^ 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  940. 

*  Cockburn  says,  "Now  I  have  repeatedly  discussed  the  subject  many 
years  after  its  prejudices  were  over,  with  persons  of  intelligence  and 
candor,  and  acquainted  with  the  utmost  secrets  of  the  convention,  and 
I  have  never  heard  one  of  them  give  any  account  other  than  this,  that 
universal  suffrage  and  annual  parliaments  were  really  its  sole  objects." 
Cockburn,  ExainiiiatiGu  of  the  Trials  for  Sedition,  i,  224. 

They  acted  foolishly,  Cockburn  further  implies,  in  copying  French 
ways.     He  holds  them  guiltless  of  all  else. 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Societies  Accused  of  Treason 

the  prevalent  spirit  of  unrest,  and  the  radical 

societies.     the  question  of  treasonable 

practice 

The  Government,  actuated  by  the  belief  that  the  radical 
clubs  meditated  an  armed  rebellion,  arrested  several  of 
their  leaders  on  the  charge  of  high  treason.  Was  the  gov- 
ernment justified  in  that  belief?  It  has  been  held  by  the 
majority  of  English  historians  that  the  radical  societies 
throughout  Great  Britain,  matured  no  general  and  com- 
prehensive designs  of  rebellion.  The  Cambridge  Modern 
History  coolly  dismisses  the  point  with  the  statement  that 
"  Pitt  evidently  misjudged  the  problem  that  was  before 
him,"  ^  while  other  histories  of  more  weight  acknowledge 
the  existence  of  political  agitation,  more  or  less  illegal,  but 
emphatically  deny  that  any  plans  for  an  armed  revolt  were 
carried  forward.^ 

A  hurried  survey  of  the  sources  would  substantiate  this 
view.  So  full  of  excitement  and  alarm  was  the  decade  be- 
tween 17S9-1799,  that  credence  was  given  to  a  vast  num- 
ber of  imaginary  designs,  such  as  the  so-called  "  Pop-gun 
Plot."  And  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  government  did  show 
unseemly  nervousness ;  political  meetings  were  dispersed 
and  radical  associations  disbanded.     In  some  cases,  also, 

1  Cambridge  Modern  History,  viii,  761. 

'  May,  Constitutional  History  of  England,  ii,  31. 

197]  197 


igS  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [igg 

men  were  tried  for  high  treason  on  absurd  evidence.  The 
most  marked  instance  of  this  was  the  trial  in  April,  1794, 
of  Walker,  an  eminent  Manchester  merchant.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  crown  rested  entirely  upon  one  man — a  dis- 
reputable individual  whom  Erskine  proved  to  be  both 
drunkard  and  knave.  In  this  case  the  innocence  pf  the  de- 
fendant was  finally  admitted  by  the  counsel  for  the  crown.  ^ 

Nor  did  the  more  important  trials  later  in  the  year  1794 
indicate,  upon  the  surface,  a  more  serious  situation.  The 
government  attempted  to  repeat  its  Scottish  triumph  in  Eng- 
land, and  in  consequence  we  find  that  on  Monday,  October 
6,  1794,  the  grand  jury  returned  a  true  bill  against  Thomas 
Hardy,  John  Home  Tooke,  and  ten  other  radical  leaders, 
not,  this  time,  on  the  charge  of  sedition,  but  on  that  of 
high  treason.  Three  only  of  these  twelve  men  were  brought 
to  trial — Hardy,  Tooke  and  Thelwal.  All  three  were  ac- 
quitted, and  the  government,  despairing  of  success,  discon- 
tinued the  proceedings  against  the  others. 

Judging  from  the  outcome  of  these  trials  only,  one  would 
be  led  to  conclude  that  the  government  was  laboring  under 
a  complete  misapprehension  of  the  aims  and  purposes  of 
the  radical  clubs.  Even  a  casual  reading  of  the  trials 
would  further  that  interpretation.  The  trial  of  Hardy 
alone  comprises  some  1,208  pages  of  closely-printed  matter. 
It  took  the  crown  no  less  than  a  week  to  present  its  case, 
and  a  very  disorderly,  unconvincing  and  protracted  pre- 
sentation it  was.^  A  close  scanning,  however,  of  this  tes- 
timony, discloses  to  us,  almost  concealed  by  the  flotsam  and 
jetsam  of  irrelevant  theory  and  hypothesis,  many  serious 
and  incriminating  facts.     Furthermore,  the  prisoner  was 

1  State  Trials,  xxiii,  1164. 

'  Lord  Brougham  in  Historical  Sketches  of  the  Statesmen  of  the 
Reign  of  George  III,  ii,  60,  says  that  the  attorney-general  was  fond  of 
entangling  himself  in  his  own  evidence. 


199]  -^^^  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  igg 

represented  by  the  incomparable  Erskine,  who  played  havoc 
with  the  evidence  of  the  crown  by  very  clever  cross  ques- 
tioning, and  glossed  over,  with  little  attention,  evidence, 
the  significance  of  which  the  crown  had  not  the  wit  to  em- 
phasize. He  won  the  case  for  the  defence  against  a  stupid, 
pointless  attack,  enmeshed  in  the  toils  of  its  own  wordi- 
ness.^ 

It  is  natural,  then,  that  the  historian,  in  reviewing  the 
sources,  should  conclude  that  the  alarm  manifested  by  the 
government,  was  without  foundation.  A  more  careful 
analysis,  however,  yields  different  results.  Although  it  is 
true  that  Thomas  Hardy  and  John  Home  Tooke  were  ac- 
quitted, it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  evidence  not  legally 
sufficient  for  conviction  may  yet  establish  a  strong  historic 
presumption  of  guilt.  And  also,  it  is  constantly  necessary 
to  differentiate  between  the  naked  facts  as  proven,  and  the 
eloquence  of  Erskine,  who  could,  all  too  easily,  "  make  the 
worse  appear  the  better  reason." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  evidence  produced  at  this  trial, 
added  to  that  gathered  at  other  trials,  not  so  widely  known, 
together  with  that  from  the  two  Parliamentary  reports 
on  seditious  practices,  and  the  newspapers  and  other 
sources,  indicate  rather  strongly  that  certain  members  of 
the  radical  societies  were  determined,  not  only  to  equip 
themselves  with  weapons,  but  also  to  band  themselves  to- 
gether for  a  definite  armed  uprising.  This  evidence  may 
be  classified  under  two  heads  : 
I  Evidence  of  seditious  spirit; 

n  Evidence  of  seditious  practice. 

As  to  the  seditious  spirit,  there  can  be  no  question  but 
that  a  general  spirit  of  unrest  pervaded  Great  Britain 
toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.    All  classes  were 

1  Brougham  tells  us  that  Erskine  so  fascinated  a  jury  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  them  to  keep  their  eyes  away  from  him.  Brougham,  op.  cit., 
iii,  318. 


200  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [200 

keenly  alive  to  this.  "  The  suspicions  novelties  "  of  the 
radicals  were  viciously  anathematized  by  the  conservatives 
and  sturdily  defended  by  their  own  upholders  and  abettors. 
An  energetic  campaign  began.  It  was  carried  on  by  many 
and  various  means.  The  question  then  naturally  arises,  to 
what  extent  were  the  defenders  of  the  old  order  and  the 
advocates  of  the  new  willing  to  go?  Was  the  campaign 
one  of  argument  alone?  Did  forced  restraint  on  the  one 
hand,  and  insurrection  on  the  other,  play  any  part  in  the 
dispute,  and  if  so,  to  what  extent? 

From  the  thundering  denouncement  of  pulpit  and  bench 
to  the  formation  of  military  companies  for  the  suppression 
of  radicalism,  the  conservative  opposition  ran  its  natural 
course.  A  vivid  illustration  of  reactionary  spirit  is  af- 
forded by  the  speech  of  a  recorder  at  Old  Bailey  Sessions 
who,  when  sentencing  a  boy  of  eleven  to  death,  dwelt  upon 
the  probable  immorality  resulting  from  the  introduction 
of  "  the  modern  system  of  politics."  ^  Publicans  were 
threatened  with  the  loss  of  their  licenses  should  they  per- 
mit  radical  speeches  to  be  made.  The  Loyalist  Associa- 
tion of  Portsmouth  resolved,  "  that  it  be  recommended  to 
the  magistrates  to  caution  all  victuallers  and  publicans  of 
this  borough,  against  suffering  any  meetings  of  a  seditious 
tendency  at  their  houses,  under  pain  of  not  having  their 
licenses  removed."  "  An  address  to  the  158  victuallers  and 
loyal  innkeepers  and  publicans  of  Manchester  and  South- 
ford,  states,  "  Continue,  my  brave  countrymen,  to  stigma- 
tize sympathy  for  slaughter  and  sedition,  and  let  the  indig- 
nation of  your  hearts  declare  against  those  democratic 
tyrants  who  would  enslave  the  freedom  of  your  glorious 
constitution.  .  .  .  They  are  monsters,  as  you  have  found 

'  The  Sun,  Jan.  14,  1793. 
'  The  Star,  Dec.  22,  1792. 


201  ]  THE  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  201 

them,  and  ought  to  be  driven  from  the  haunts  of  men."  ^ 
Clerks,  servants  and  understrappers,  were  induced  to  sign 
loyalist  declarations.  Church-and-king  riots,  if  not  actively 
instigated,  were  at  least  passively  encouraged  by  official- 
dom. The  riots  in  Birmingham  in  1791  were  of  this 
nature,  as  also  that  in  IManchester  in  1792  which  resulted 
in  an  attack  on  the  office  of  the  Manchester  Herald!'  Large 
numbers  of  associations  were  formed  for  the  destruction 
of  the  hydra-headed  monster,  Jacobinism,  and  for  the 
same  purpose  the  machinery  of  government  was  actively 
invoked. 

What  reply  were  the  radicals  to  make?  So  intense 
with  divergent  feeling  was  society  of  the  period  that  it  is 
not  easy  to  judge.^  Indeed,  many  of  the  incidents  which 
attracted  popular  interest,  give  no  proof  at  all  of  the  real 
intentions  of  the  radicals.  No  little  sword  play  was  in- 
dulged in  by  the  press.  "  The  True  Briton,"  in  an  article 
entitled  "  Strong  Spirit  of  the  Reformers,"  states:  "  While 
an  umbrella  was  held  over  Mr.  Fox's  head  in  Old  Palace 
yard  last  Monday,  one  of  the  mob,  irritated  by  such  dis- 
tinction, cried  out  '  equality.'  But  the  Patriot  went  on," 
exclaims  the  True  Briton,  "  while  his  friends  abided  the 
pelting  of  the  furious  storm."  *  Boisterousness  upon  the 
street,  then  as  now,  seemed  a  favorite  pastime.     Pitt  him- 

1  The  Observer  and  Sunday  Advertiser,  Sept.  23,  1792. 

^Morning  Chronicle,  Jan.  i,  I793;  Morning  Post,  July  18,  1791; 
Laprade,  England  and  the  French  Revolution,  pp.  44-51.  has  a  full  ac- 
count of  this  riot  in  Birmingham.  For  the  riot  in  IManchcster,  see 
Morning  Chronicle,  Jan.  i,  I793- 

3  Cockburn,  Trials  for  Sedition,  n,  p.  23,  gives  a  vivid  account  of 
this  thing.  The  recollections  of  R.  Potter,  M.  P.,  offered  another  clue; 
London  Despatch  and  People's  Political  and  Social  Reformer,  Feb.  26, 
1834.    Place  MSS.,  op.  cit.,  27,  816,  p.  439. 

*  The  True  Briton,  April  10,  1797- 


202  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [202 

self  was  pelted  in  St.  James  Park  by  angry  spectators/ 
while  Admiral  Gardiner,  the  opponent  of  Fox,  was  also 
roughly  handled.^  Nervous  excitement  pervaded  all  classes. 
Religious  fanaticism,  clothed  in  garbled  prophecy,  there 
was  in  abundance.  One  poor  prophet  organized  a  pil- 
grimage to  Jerusalem,"  while  a  certain  female,  assuming 
the  title  of  ''  Britannia,  or  the  Genius  of  England,"  an- 
nounced that  she  was  commissioned  to  warn  their  Majesties 
of  the  impending  fate  of  the  country.* 

Many  popular  disturbances  were  due  to  the  high  cost  of 
living.  The  poor  suffered  greatl}',  and  indeed  all  classes  of 
society  recognized  that  something  must  be  done.  No  one 
was  better  aware  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  country 
than  Arthur  Young.  According  to  his  testimony  "  the 
situation  is  very  alarming."  ^  So  likewise  thought  the  best 
informed  of  his  friends.  Mr.  Simmonds  VvTote  to  him  in 
1795  that  "  complaints  of  the  dearness  of  the  necessities  of 
life  seem  to  pervade  the  entire  island,  and  I  fear  that  the 
necessities  may  be  still  dearer.  If  we  are  forced  to  persist 
in  this  war,  and  how  we  are  to  get  out  of  it  is  difficult  to 
see,  the  middle  class  of  people,  to  which  you  and  I  belong, 
must  be  driven  down  to  the  lower."  ^ 

Discontent  among  the  vvorking  classes  was  reflected  ere 
long  in  serious  riots,  especially  during  the  trying  year 
1795.  In  Leicester  a  wagonload  of  corn  was  seized  and 
carried  to  a  churchyard.  Officers  attempted  to  rescue  it. 
The  riot  act  was  read,  but  the  hungry  people  at  length  were 

'  Oracle  and  Public  Advertiser.  Dec.  18,  1795. 
-  Gazetteer,  June  8,  1796. 

'  Oracle  and  Public  Advertiser,  Jan.  22,  1796. 
*  Morning  Chronicle,  Jan.  22,  1796. 
^  Reports  of  Committees,  ix,  79. 

**  Correspondence  of  Arthur  Young,  Additional  MSS.,  British  Mu- 
seum, 35,127,  vol.  ii. 


203]  THE  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  203 

permitted  to  divide  the  corn  among  themselves.  The  mob, 
still  not  content,  assailed  the  soldiers  with  brick-bats  and 
stones.  The  soldiers  fired  upon  them,  killing  three  and 
maiming  eight. ^  The  poor  people  in  Chichester  forced  a 
farmer  to  unload  his  provisions.  Placed  in  jail,  they  were 
rescued  by  a  large  mob.  Lives  were  lost  at  Lewis  in  an 
anti-high-price  riot,  by  a  charge  of  light  cavalry  on  the 
people.  In  Pontefracte  the  unfortunate  remarks  of  a  corn 
dealer  brought  the  popular  wrath  down  upon  his  head. 
Reported  as  saying  that  he  hoped  the  day  would  arrive 
when  people  would  not  be  so  saucy  at  to  eat  wheaten  bread 
he  was  personally  assaulted,  and  his  wagons  appropriated.^ 
Two  thousand  people  in  Wiltshire  engaged  in  a  demon- 
stration against  the  farmers  and  millers.  In  Carlisle  a 
committee  of  the  people  confiscated  all  private  grain  and 
placed  it  on  sale  in  the  town  hall  at  popular  prices.  Women 
were  particularly  active  in  these  demonstrations.  At  Bath 
they  prevented  a  ship  from  sailing  laden  with  grain,  and 
one,  Sarah  Rogers,  was  the  leader  in  a  cheap  butter  cam- 
paign.^ 

There  was  a  great  difference  of  opinion  as  to  how  this 
distress  should  be  met.  In  Manchester,  in  November,  1795, 
premiums  were  given  to  farmers  for  bringing  their  crops 
to  market.*  Shortly  after  this,  in  February,  1796,  the 
borough  reeve,  clergy  and  other  prominent  citizens, 
pledged  themselves  by  way  of  example  to  reduce  by  one- 
third  the  quantity  of  flour  which  they  would  consume.^ 
Such  measures  were  merely  palliative.  The  situation  grew 
worse.      By   special   police  order  the  public   houses   were 

1  Oracle  and  Advertiser,  Aug.  10,  1795. 

2  Ibid. 

2  Hammond,  op.  cit.,  p.  121. 

*  Axon,  Manchester,  p.  121. 

*  Reilly,  Manchester,  p.  287. 


204  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [204 

closed  early,  and  other  strenuous  methods  were  adopted. 
Despite  this  proclamation,  on  July  twenty-ninth,  a  riot  broke 
out  in  the  potato  market  over  a  question  of  weights  and 
measures.  The  mob  was  driven  away  by  the  soldiers.  Ir 
reassembled  the  next  morning  and,  pouncing  upon  several 
loads  of  meal,  threw  them  away.  Toward  the  end  of  1796 
pies  and  puddings  ceased  to  be  seen  in  Manchester,  and  so 
acute  became  the  shortage  of  wheat  in  the  city  that  the 
farmers  were  assisted  by  the  soldiers  in  threshing  their 
fall  supply. 

London  suffered  equally  with  the  rest  of  the  country. 
Official  recognition  of  the  suffering  was  made  by  the  au- 
thorities. Twice  during  1795  the  sum  of  a  thousand 
pounds  was  voted  for  the  temporary  purchase  of  grain. 
An  effort  even  was  made  to  abolish  the  corporation  din- 
ners of  London  for  a  whole  year.  This  sacrifice  the  city 
fathers  could  not  bring  themselves  to  make.  They  agreed 
to  suspend  them,  however,  until  the  first  of  October,  1795; 
The  attitude  of  the  press  varied  greatly.  The  quasi-radi- 
cal Morning  Post  said,  as  early  as  1791,  "  It  is  ridiculous 
to  talk  of  revolution  in  this  country,  for  it  wants  none. 
The  bishops  are  not  overfed,  nor  are  the  curates  starving. 
The  dependents  upon  the  civil  list  of  nearly  one  million 
pounds  live  on,  and  as  for  the  sinecures  of  Church  and 
State,  while  the  poor  manufacturer  and  peasant  is  obliged 
to  cat  his  black  bread  in  a  darkened  room,  it  is  for  the  honor 
and  dignity  of  the  country  that  we  encourage  them."  ^ 
The  Oracle  and  Advertiser  of  July  11,  1795,  describes 
with  great  care  a  certain  print  which  exhibited  "  a  large 
tree  with  innumerable  branches."  From  these  by  way  of 
fruit  are  suspended  loaves  of  bread,  different  joints  of 
meat,  heads  of  cabbage,  and  a  bottle  with  "  gin  "  inscribed 

'  Morning  Post,  July  7,  1791. 


205]  ^^i^  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  205 

Upon  it.  Under  this  several  men  arc  sitting,  with  their 
mouths  wide  open.  These  words  are  printed  on  the  label : 
"  If  you  don't  fall  I  must  rise."  The  ministers  and  other 
persons  seen  at  some  distance  were  diverting  themselves 
with  the  misery  of  the  scene.^  Even  the  conservative 
press  admitted  the  seriousness  of  the  crisis.  It  advised 
self-denial  of  pastry,  and  likewise  the  purchase  of  bread 
by  the  state.  It  even  demanded  a  law  which  would 
prevent  bakers  from  selling  loaves  on  the  same  day  on 
which  they  were  baked,  on  the  theory  that  five  stale  loaves 
ecjual  four  fresh  ones.^ 

Direct  instances  of  a  seditious  spirit  on  the  part  of  the 
radical  societies  greet  us  on  every  hand.  Margarot,  the 
exiled  secretary  of  the  Corresponding  Society,  wrote  in 
March,  1794,  to  his  friends  in  Norwich:  "This  morning 
ten  ships  of  w'ar  have  left  Spithead  for  the  Channel,  and  it 
is  reported  that  the  Brest  fleet  is  out ;  rumor  always  magni- 
fying things,  says  there  are  seventy  sail  of  French  at  sea; 
if  so,  there  must  be  a  number  of  transports  among  them, 
and  a  descent  may  probably  be  the  consequence — for  God's 
sake,  my  worthy  friends,  do  not  relax  in  the  cause  of  free- 
dom." ^  As  early  as  the  28th  of  November,  1792,  we 
find  a  letter  written  by  a  military  officer  stationed  at  Shef- 
field. Replying  to  an  inquiry  from  Pitt  concerning  the  dis- 
position of  the  people  of  Sheffield,  he  tells  of  the  rejoicing 
of  the  people  at  French  victories.  A  procession  was  held, 
where  a  French  flag  was  raised,  and  also  a  picture  on  top 
of  a  pole  which  portrayed  Burke  and  Dundas  stabbing 
Liberty.     A  poem  was  read  containing  the  refrain,  "  Let 

^  Oracle  and  Public  Advertiser,  July  11,  1795. 

^  The  London  Times,  July  16,  1795. 

3  Secrecy  Committee,  The  Senator,  viii,  158. 


2o6  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [206 

US  like  Frenchmen  live,  or  else  like  Frenchmen  die."  The 
officer  writes  further  that,  although  perfect  peace  was  pre- 
served, a  debating  society  in  the  town  was  saving  money 
to  buy  firearms  and  to  corrupt  the  soldiery/ 

In  1794,  "  The  Tragedy  of  Charles  I  "  was  enacted  in  an 
Edinburgh  theatre.  In  the  course  of  the  play  the  actors 
sang  "  God  Save  the  King."  An  uproar  straightway  arose. 
The  crowded  audience  jeered  and  hissed  and,  finally  with 
one  accord,  gave  voice  to  the  revolutionary  air,  "  ALaggy 
Linder."  An  officer  of  the  garrison,  to  compel  a  respect- 
ful reception  of  the  national  anthem,  summoned  his  sol- 
diers. The  result  was  a  riot  attended  by  bloodshed."  The 
strife  was  renewed  at  the  following  comedy;  a  crowd  gath- 
ered outside  the  theatre;  and  bludgeons  were  freely  used.^ 
Another  theatrical  performance  of  an  even  more  signifi- 
cant character  took  place  the  same  year  in  London.  This 
was  an  amateur  entertainment  given  by  one  of  the  local 
branches  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society,  an  asso- 
ciation organized  for  a  "  reform  in  Parliament."  The 
play  bore  upon  its  face  full  evidence  of  disloyalty.  The 
title-sheet  of  the  production  was  as  follows : 

For  the  Benefit  of  John  Bull 

Given  at 

The  Federated  Theatre  in  Equality  Square 

A  New  &  Entertaining  Farce  Entitled 

Le  Guillotine 

or 

George's  Head  in  a  Basket. 

^  Tomline,  Life  of  Pitt,  iii,  459.  A  foot-note  states  this  letter  was 
found  among  Pitt's  papers. 

2  Oracle  and  Public  Advertiser,  April  18.  A  similar  riot  took  place 
in  Rochester ;  another  one  in  Lynn.  Thelwal,  Afi  Appeal  to  Popular 
Opinion,  p.  481. 

3  Oracle  and  Public  Advertiser.  April  19,  1794. 


2oy]  THE  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  207 

Dramatis  Personae : 

Numpy  the  Third,  by  Mr.  Gwelf  (being  tlie  last  time  of 
his  appearance  in  that  character)  ;  Prince  of  Leeks,  by  Mr. 
Gwelf,  Jr.,  .  .  .  Banditti,  Assassins,  Cutthroats,  Wholesale 
Dealers  in  Blood,  etc. 

Between  the  acts  a  new  song,  entitled  "  Twenty  More,  Kill 
Them,"  by  Bobafiil  Brunswick.  Tight  Rope  Dancing  from 
the  Lamp  posts,  by  Messrs.  Canterbury,  York  and  Durham. 
....  In  the  course  of  which  will  be  sung  in  full  chorus, 
"  Ca-Ira  "  and  "  Bob  Shave  Great  George  our  .  .  .  ,"  the 
whole  to  conclude  with  the  grantl  decapitation  of  Placemen, 
Pensioners,  and  German  leeches.^ 

At  Sheffield  the  popular  societies  were  numerically 
strong.  They  were  likewise  bold  and  enterprising,  for, 
under  the  leadership  of  a  popular  agitator,  known  as  Red- 
Head  York,  they  held  a  mass-meeting.  This  was  in  April, 
1794.  It  was  an  open-air  event,  and  York  was  the  orator  of 
the  day.  To  hear  the  proceedings  no  less  than  eight  thou- 
sand people  assembled.  During  the  course  of  his  speech, 
in  a  reference  to  the  throne  and  Church,  York  made  the 
following  announcement :  "  The  day  is  at  length  arrived 
when  fanaticism  and  superstition,  deprived  of  their  tinsel 
trappings,  and  exposed  with  their  natural  ugliness  to  the 
view  of  mankind,  shall  slink  scowling  back  to  the  cave  of 
obscurity."  And  also  his  hearers  are  advised  "  to  march 
in  a  body  to  London;  to  demand  redress  for  their  griev- 
ances ;  "  while  for  a  peroration  to  this  philippic  are  these 
significant  words :  "  Should  conditions  not  improve  the 
people  will  send  the  five  hundred  gentlemen  in  St.  Stephen's 
Chapel  about  their  business."  ^  It  is  true  that  at  his  trial 
in  1795  many  of  the  witnesses  for  the  defence  denied  that 
these  words  were  uttered ;  the  fact  of  their  utterance,  how- 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  682.  2  ii,id„  xxv,  1037. 


2o8  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [208 

ever,  was  established  not  only  by  the  testimony  of  many 
reputable  citizens,  but  also  by  their  appearance  in  the 
pamphlet  published  under  the  auspices  of  the  Sheffield 
Society. 

Many  riotous  demonstrations  against  the  government 
took  place  throughout  the  nation.  One  of  them  was  held 
in  1792  in  Dundee.  Fox  and  other  defenders  of  the  Society 
made  light  of  this  event,  declaring  that  it  was  nothing  more 
than  the  act  of  a  few  schoolboys.  From  the  evidence  of  a 
Scottish  member  of  Parliament  who  witnessed  the  occur- 
rence it  was  a  more  serious  affair.  The  riot  lasted  from 
Friday  to  Tuesday,  and  was  participated  in  by  a  mob  of 
five  hundred,  consisting  of  men  from  sixteen  to  sixty  yearj 
of  age.  A  liberty  pole  was  planted,  and  various  diversions 
of  a  French  type  indulged  in.^  Another  riot  occurred  on 
Easter  Monday  in  Manchester  where  a  public  assembly 
met  in  answer  to  a  hand-bill.  Opposed  to  it  was  a  mob. 
The  reformers  were  said  to  have  fired,  obeying  a  man 
whom  they  called  captain." 

If  these  political  disturbances  are  considered  in  connec- 
tion with  the  numerous  food  riots  previously  reviewed;  if 
we  keep  in  mind  at  the  same  time  the  popular  indignation  at 
the  inequalities  of  the  criminal  law  as  evinced  by  various 
demonstrations,  such  as  that  which  took  place  before  New- 
gate on  the  fourteenth  of  July,  1794.'  ^vc  can  scarcely 
doubt  that  the  temper  of  the  people  could  easily  have  been 
fanned  into  a  flame  of  revolt."* 

We  pass  now  from  the  discussion  of  seditious  spirit,  on 

'  Jordan,  Parliamentary  Jourval,  Dec.  17,  1793. 

*  Oracle  and  Pttblic  Advertiser,  April  25,  1794. 
'  The  World,  July  15,  1794- 

*  Further  evidence  of  this  may  be  had  from  the  Place  MSS.,  27,817. 
p.  4,  and  Oracle  and  Public  Advertiser,  May  16,  1794. 


209]  '^^^  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  209 

the  part  of  the  members  of  radical  clubs,  to  that  of  sedi- 
tious practice.  Of  this  there  is  proof,  both  circumstan- 
tial and  direct. 

First  of  all,  a  common  understanding  apparently  existed 
between  the  Society  of  United  Irishmen  and  the  English 
radical  clubs.  The  United  Irishmen  rebelled  in  the  year 
1798;  therefore,  if  any  co-operation  with  them  existed  on 
the  part  of  the  societies  of  England,  it  is  evidence  not  to 
be  lightly  discarded.  That  there  was  a  mutual  under- 
standing is  suggested  by  three  facts : 

(i)  O'Connor,  a  member  of  the  Irish  Directory,  or  the 
Central  Committee  of  the  United  Irishmen,  came  to  Eng- 
land in  1798.  He  was  entertained  there  by  the  London 
Corresponding  Society,  and  sailed  for  France  in  the  com- 
pany of  John  Binns,  a  member  of  the  London  Association.' 

(2)  Two  delegates  from  the  Society  of  United  Irishmen, 
namely,  Hamilton  Rowan  and  Simon  Butler,  attended  the 
meeting  of  the  Edinburgh  Convention  in  1794.^ 

(3)  A  correspondent  of  the  London  Corresponding  So- 
ciety met  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  in  Chester,  and  inquired 
of  him  "How  things  were  going  in  Ireland;"  while  for 
his  own  part,  he  assured  Fitzgerald  that  great  success  was 
being  met  with  in  England  in  winning  over  the  Scottish 
Regiments."^ 

Secondly,  armed  insurrection  was  encouraged.  The 
government  produced  at  the  State  Trials  a  letter  written 
by  one  Davidson.  This  man  was  an  influential  member 
of  a  society  in  Sheffield.  In  his  letter  he  offered  to  prepare 
and  ship  to   Norwich  as  many  pikes  as  were  required,* 

^  Reports  from  Committees,  x,  795. 

~  Report  of  the  Secrecy  Committee   of  House   of   Commons,   The 
Senator,  viii,  102. 
'  Correspondence  of  Castereagh,  i,  206. 
*  State  Trials,  xxiv,  588. 


2IO  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [210 

while  at  the  home  of  an  officer  of  the  Norwich  Society  was 
discovered  a  letter  stating  that  the  French  fleet  would  soon 
be  under  way,  and  that  Norwich  must  be  prepared  to  rise 
in  arms  at  that  happy  event.  Indeed,  the  London  Corres- 
ponding Society  itself  directly  advocated  armed  resistance. 
In  the  instructions  of  the  Society  to  its  delegates  are  found 
these  words :  "  You  are  to  call  on  our  fellow  citizens  to  be 
ready  with  us  to  pursue  our  common  object  to  the  scaf- 
fold, or  rather  (if  our  enemies  are  desperate  enough  to  bar 
up  every  avenue  of  inquiry  of  discussion)  to  the  field."  ^ 

Upon  the  loyalty  of  the  army  and  navy  everything  de- 
pended. The  effort  of  the  radicals  to  undermine  that 
loyalty  was  perhaps  the  most  serious  charge  that  could 
have  been  laid  at  their  door.  Popular  discontent  assisted 
them  greatly  in  this  attempt.  The  French  war  was  de- 
tested. So  also  was  conscription.  In  Scotland,  in  1794, 
certain  of  the  Fencibles,  or  the  militia  of  Glasgow,  refused 
to  obey  their  officers.  Troops  from  neighboring  towns 
were  summoned;  five  companies  and  two  cannon  were  sent 
to  Edinburgh,  and  the  malcontents  were  arrested.  The 
infuriated  populace  attempted  a  rescue,"  but  without  suc- 
cess. Two  officers  accompanied  the  prisoners  out  of  town. 
Returning,  they  were  knocked  down  by  a  mob  and  sought 
refuge  in  a  nearby  house.  The  mob  broke  down  the 
windows  and  would  have  seized  the  officers  had  not  the 
military  arrived  in  season.* 

In  the  Highlands  the  greatest  difficulty  was  met  with 
in  obtaining  recruits.  The  radical  press  claimed  that  the 
"  mode  of  raising  volunteers  in  the  Highlands  is  to  threaten 

^  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Secrecy  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
Report  from  Committees,  x,  809.  From  the  written  instructions  of 
John  Gale  Jones  deputized  to  visit  the  societies  in  Birmingham. 

-  Courier,  Dec.  22,  1794. 

■"*  Morning  Chronicle,  Dec.  24,  1794. 


21 1  ]  THE  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  211 

the  farmers  that  their  leases  will  not  be  renewed  unless 
the  son  enlists."  ^  All  over  Scotland  opposition  to  the 
army  was  bitter.  In  Dumfries  some  fifty  or  sixty  muti- 
neers rescued  a  number  of  conjfined  men  but  were  chased 
by  two  officers  whom,  in  turn,  they  surrounded  and 
threatened;  a  show  of  pistols  brought  the  mutineers 
to  their  senses.^  This  Scottish  unrest  culminated  in  the 
widespread  disturbances  which  greeted  the  promulgation 
of  the  Militia  Act.  The  country  was  greatly  aroused 
throughout  the  autumn  of  1797.  In  Glasgow  the  utmost 
confusion  and  disorder  reigned.  In  a  letter  to  the  Morning 
Chronicle  it  was  stated  that  "  The  Duke  of  Montrose  has 
been  driven  by  the  people  from  his  seat  in  the  vicinity  of 
Dumbarton,  and  has  found  shelter  from  violence  in  this 
city.  In  consequence  of  this  outrage  his  Grace  has  been 
obliged  to  send  off  from  hence  a  troop  of  dragoons  to  escort 
the  Duchess  and  her  family  hither.  Our  foot  and  cavalry 
volunteers  have  received  word  to  hold  themselves  in  readi- 
ness at  a  moment's  notice,  and  are  constantly  under  the 
necessity  of  appearing  in  uniform.  The  country  people 
are  unanimous  in  refusing  to  be  balloted  for.  To  such 
lengths  have  they  gone  in  some  places  .  .  .  that  they  have 
torn  to  pieces  the  rolls,  and  have  chased  the  deputies  to 
their  homes."  *  Other  Scotch  towns  received  the  news  of 
the  Militia  Act  in  much  the  same  way.  In  Eccles  six  or 
seven  hundred  men  and  women — the  latter  with  aprons 
full  of  stones — compelled  the  farmers  to  sign  a  declaration 
of  resistance,  while  at  Jedburg  another  riot  took  place.* 

Dumbartonshire  was  not  behindhand  in  this  display  of 
mob  violence.     In  the  village  of  Eastern  Kilpatricks  a  mob 

'^Morning  Chronicle,  Jan.  15,  1795. 
2  Oracle  and  Advertiser,  July  23,  1795. 
'  Morning  Chronicle,  Aug.  31,  i797- 
4  Ibid.,  August  29,  1797. 


212  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [212 

of  three  hundred  prevented  the  execution  of  the  Militia 
Act.  Soldiers  were  summoned  from  Glasgow.  The  riot 
act  was  read,  and  upon  the  refusal  of  the  mob  to  disperse, 
ten  of  their  leaders  were  seized  and  imprisoned.  In  Edin- 
burgh the  enforcement  of  the  act  met  with  resistance.  The 
soldiers  were  stoned,  one  being  mortally  wounded.  The 
mob  was  fired  on,  and  eight  or  nine  were  killed  and  many- 
wounded.  Among  those  killed  was  a  woman  who  beat  a 
drum.  On  the  same  day  in  Selkirk  a  crowd  of  young  men, 
estimated  in  numbers  from  six  to  seven  hundred,  compelled 
a  constable  to  surrender  the  lists  of  recruits.  These  they 
burned  before  the  church  door.  The  chief  magistrate, 
threatened  with  a  ducking,  forbore  interference.^ 

Despite  this  opposition,  however,  a  rigid  enforcement  of 
the  act  was  insisted  upon.  Rioters  were  severely  punished 
by  transportation  and  by  imprisonment,  while  many  peo- 
ple were  compelled  to  give  security  for  their  good  behavior. 

The  societies  in  Scotland  took  an  active  part  in  pro- 
moting disaffection  among  the  soldiers.  A  favorite  method 
of  accomplishing  the  desired  result  was  the  circulation  of 
pamphlets  and  letters.  One  of  these,  taken  from  a  soldier, 
after  making  a  bitter  denunciation  of  the  French  war,  and 
advising  the  army  to  take  no  part  in  it,  continued  as  fol- 
lows :  "  You  cannot  be  compelled  to  go !  leave  not  your 
country!  Assert  your  independence!  Your  countrymen 
look  up  to  you  as  their  protector  and  guardian,  and  will  in 
turn  lift  up  their  arms  to  assist  you."  ^  In  this  propaganda, 
Downie.  an  official  of  the  Edinburgh  societies,  was  impli- 
cated. Several  soldiers  swore  upon  the  witness  stand  that 
they   had   read   papers   advising  a   mutiny.^     These   men 

1  Morning  Chronicle,  Sept.  5,  1797. 

2  State  Trials,  xxiv,  100. 

•^  State  Trials,  xxiv,  96,  97.  For  other  mutinies,  see  the  Annual  Reg- 
ister for  179s,  pp.  24,  27. 


213]  THE  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  213 

were  members  of  the  fencible  regiment  stationed  in  Edin- 
burgh. 

In  England  the  war  was  nearly  as  unpopular.  The  forced 
seizure  of  men  for  military  service,  popularly  known  as 
"  crimping,"  met  with  an  indignant  opposition.  The  posi- 
tion of  a  recruiting  sergeant  was  perilous.  Sometimes  the 
recruiting  station  would  be  attacked.  It  was  said  that 
twelve  thousand  men  had  participated  in  one  of  these  on- 
slaughts. The  windows  of  Pitt's  house  were  broken ;  bon- 
fires were  lit,  and  the  recruiting  house  attacked.  Only  by 
the  reading  of  the  riot  act  and  the  calling  forth  of  the  horse- 
guards  was  the  tumult  quelled.^  On  one  occasion  the  trick 
of  a  recruiting  sergeant  in  presenting  a  coin  to  a  young  lad 
for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  procuring  some  merchandise, 
coupled  with  the  prompt  seizure  of  the  boy  for  taking  the 
king's  shilling,  resulted  in  the  hasty  gathering  of  some  two 
thousand  people.  The  crimp  was  hustled  about,  placed 
under  a  pump,  thoroughly  beaten,  and  slit  through  the  ears.^ 
Not  only  were  the  recruiting  officers  attacked,  but  deserters 
were  befriended,  and  an  open  conflict  took  place  in  the 
streets  of  London  between  a  mob  defending  a  number  of 
deserters  from  the  Sixtieth  Foot,  and  an  armed  force 
which  tried  to  capture  them.^ 

*  Orac'e  and  Advertiser,  July  15.  1795. 

'  Ibid.,  April  17,  1795.  A  favorite  device  for  procuring  recruits  ap- 
parently was  to  entice  the  intended  victim  into  a  house  of  prostitu- 
tion. Brayley,  History  of  Loiidon  and  Middlesex,  p.  559.  Also  The 
Courier,  July  19,  1794.  Reprinted  in  a  tract  of  the  London  Corres- 
ponding Society,  entitled,  Reformers  not  Rioters.  See  also  Oracle 
and  Advertiser  for  July  27,  1795.    Ibid.,  Jan.  14,  1795. 

'  London  Chronicle,  April  6,  1797.  Of  course  the  more  reputable 
uf  the  citizens  of  London  did  not  participate  in  any  physical  resistance 
to  the  government.  Nevertheless,  they  also  protested  in  orderly 
fashion  against  the  war.  This  was  done  to  some  extent  by  the  Lon- 
don corporations.  We  find  that  Aldgate  as  a  ward,  officially  resolved 
neither  to  serve  in  the  new  militia,  if  balloted  for,  nor  to  pay  the  fine 


214  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [214 

Outside  of  London  the  situation  was  the  same.  In  Bris- 
tol, Bath,  Oxford  and  Norwich,  mutinies  either  occurred 
or  were  feared.  Bristol  was  in  a  state  of  especial  alarm, 
owing  to  the  assembly  of  the  colliers  at  Kings  wood  for 
the  purpose  of  redressing  some  grievance.^  Wiltshire  and 
Leicester  witnessed  disturbances  also.  There  was  trouble 
in  Yarmouth,  and  also  in  Portsmouth,^  while  at  Newcastle- 
on-Tyne  volunteers  for  the  war  were  viciously  assaulted.* 

This  state  of  affairs  gave  a  tempting  opportunity  to  the 
radical  societies.  Both  in  England  and  in  Scotland  radi- 
cal hand-bills  were  actively  circulated.  In  vain  did  the 
government  try  to  stop  this  practice.  At  Oxford  and  Nor- 
wich a  soldier  or  non-commissioned  officer  who  would  pro- 
vide evidence  for  the  conviction  of  one  of  his  fellows  was 
offered  a  bonus  of  three  days'  pay.*  At  Maidstone,  two 
years  later,  we  find  as  much  as  two  guineas  offered  for  the 
conviction  of  anyone  placing  treasonable  hand-bills  in  the 
hands  of  soldiers.  One,  Richard  Fuller,  was  convicted  of 
this  practice.  In  his  possession  were  discovered  two  or 
three  highly  inflammatory  posters.  In  one  of  them  the 
soldiers  are  urged  "  to  put  on  the  uniform  of  liberty." 
"  You  have  sixpence  per  day  for  clothes,  food,  and  ex- 
penses," the  address  tells  them,  "  and  out  of  this  you  are 
to  find  all  things  necessary  for  the  existence  of  man;  even 
the  common  heritage  of   nature,   personal  liberty,   is   not 

prescribed  by  the  act.     Similar  action  was  taken  by  Cripplegate  ward. 
Both  the   middle  class   and   the  poorer   folk  of   London    detested   the 
war   and   the  necessity  of   serving   in    the   army.      Oracle  and   Public 
Advertiser,  August  29,  1794. 
^  London  Packet,  or  New  Lloyds  Evening  Post.  March  23,  1795. 

*  The  True  Briton,  August  13,  1796;  ibid.,  August  27,  1796. 

'  Morning  Chronicle,  July  30,  1795.  The  Pitt  men  were  guilty  of  this 
outrage.  One  of  the  volunteers  was  said  to  have  been  trampled  to 
death  by  them. 

*  Ibid.,  May  28,  1797. 


215]  ^^^^  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  215 

yours ;  you  are  tied  up  like  dogs ;  the  lash  sharpened  with 
cruel  knots  lays  bare  your  bones ;  the  spike  runs  through 
the  sole  of  your  foot  and  makes  the  suspended  wretch 
writhe  and  howl  with  agony — these  are  the  rewards  of 
your  loyalty,  and  these  the  blessings  which  attend  the  ser- 
vice of  a  king."  ^ 

Henry  Fellows,  who  was  convicted  of  the  saiiie  offence, 
was  employed  by  the  Corresponding  Society."  Two  papers 
were  found  in  his  possession.  One  was  an  exhortation  to 
the  army,  urging  the  soldiers  to  mutiny.  In  it  a  few 
grievances  are  enumerated, — among  them  poor  pay,  and  in- 
efficient, brutal  officers, — whereupon  the  hand-bill  exclaims. 
"  these,  comrades,  are  a  few  of  our  grievances,  and  but  a 
few.  What  shall  we  do?  The  tyranny  which  is  falsely 
called  discipline  prevents  us  from  acting  like  other  men. 
We  cannot  join  in  a  petition  for  that  which  common  hon- 
esty would  freely  have  given  long  ago.  We  have  only  two 
choices :  either  to  submit  to  the  present  imposition,  or  to 
demand  the  treatment  proper  for  men."  ^  The  other  was 
a  communication  to  the  secretary  of  the  London  Corres- 
ponding Society,  reporting  on  the  progress  made.*  The 
marines  at  Chatham  were  urged  to  mutiny.  Another  man, 
named  Rhodes,  also  connected  with  the  radical  societies, 
was  caught  at  Maidstone  sticking  up  treasonable  posters; 
he  was  said  at  the  time  to  have  been  employed  by  two 

^  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Secrecy  Relative  to  Seditious  Societies, 
1799.  Reports  from  Committees,  1775-1801,  x,  809.  Fuller,  a  shoe- 
maker, was  tried  at  Old  Bailey.  There  was  no  defence,  save  illit- 
eracy.    Old  Bailey  Session  Papers,  1797,  p.  447- 

*  True  Briton,  May  25,   1797. 

^  Reports  from  Committees,  x,  810. 

*  Reports  from  Committees,  x,  810.  The  handbill  states  still  further 
that  "  the  reg'ments  which  send  you  this  are  willing  to  do  their  part," 
and  it  concludes  with  the  admonition:  "  BE  SOBER!     BE  READY!" 


2i6  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [216 

strangers  who  were  members  of  the  London  Corresponding 
Society/ 

More  distressing  still  to  the  government  was  the  fact 
that  the  fleet  could  not  be  relied  upon.  With  the  details  of 
the  famous  mutiny  at  the  Nore  history  has  been  long  famil- 
iar, but  few  historians  seem  to  have  suspected  that  the 
mutineers  had  any  connection  with  the  London  Correspond- 
ing Society.  Yet  a  contemporaneous  newspaper  tells  us  that 
"  as  one  of  the  Gravesend  passenger  boats  passed  the  muti- 
neer Lancaster,  several  passengers  proclaiming  themselves 
members  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society,  gave  three 
cheers,  which  so  enraged  the  others  that  a  pitched  battle 
was  fought."  Other  evidence  goes  to  show  that  Williams. 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  mutiny,  was  a  prominent  speaker 
at  a  London  debating  society.^  Indeed,  if  the  True  Briton, 
the  organ  of  the  administration,  is  to  be  trusted,  Smart,  a 
mutineer  on  the  Grampus,  admitted  at  his  court  martial 
that  he  was  a  member  of  the  Corresponding  Society.^ 
Another  mutineer  was  said  to  have  belonged  to  a  radical 
society  in  London,*  while  Joyce,  one  of  the  ringleaders  of 
the  mutiny,  had  formerly,  in  the  village  of  Kirkentulloch 
in  West  Scotland,  been  a  leader  in  the  radical  cause.^ 

Fatal  as  the  outcome  of  the  grand  mutiny  at  the  Nore 
was,  the  idea  of  a  naval  revolt  lingered  on.  The  second 
report  of  the  Committee  of  Secrecy,  issued  in  1799,  states 
that  Tomms,  a  marine,  on  the  ship  Diomede,  planned  to 
shoot  the  officers  and  take  the  vessel  from  Sheerness  to  a 

*  The  True  Briton,  May  26,  1797. 
~  London  Chronicle,  June  19,  1797. 
'  The  True  Briton,  July  15,  1797. 

*  Ibid.,  July  28,  1797. 

*  London  Chronicle,  May  25,   1797. 


217]  THE  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  217 

foreign  port.     An  oath  was  taken  to  this  effect.     Tomms 
was  a  member  of  a  corresponding  society  in  Nottingham/ 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  certain  members  of  the 
radical  clubs  actually  planned  an  armed  revolt.  We  have 
already  seen  hovv^  Davidson,  a  Sheffield  man,  offered  to 
supply  pikes  to  the  associated  clubs  at  Norwich.  We  know 
from  other  sources  that  pikes  were  actually  manufactured 
in  Shefifield.  for  members  of  the  local  societies.  William 
Gammage,  a  blacksmith  in  Sheffield,  swore  that  he  in  per- 
son had  manufactured  many  pikes.  Joseph  Eyr,  a  car- 
penter, testified  that  he  had  made  pike  handles,  while  Wid- 
dison,  another  carpenter,  fashioned  a  dozen  pike  handles, 
and  Hill,  a  smith,  made  ten  dozen  or  more  pike  heads  of 
fine  steel.^  The  pike  is  described  as  a  fine  steel  rod,  pointed 
and  fluted  as  a  bayonet,  which,  when  affixed  to  a  stout 
ashen  stick  four  feet  in  length,  made  an  effective  weapon. 

The  "  night  cat,"  oi  which  a  model  was  made,  was  a  re- 
production of  the  calthrop  of  classical  times.  It  could  be 
used  only  against  charges  of  cavalry  or  dragoons. .  Al- 
though simple  in.  construction,  it  was  most  ingeniously 
calculated  to  throve  into  confusion  a  charging  body  of 
horsemen.  Four  light-weight  iron  or  steel  bars,  two  or 
three  feet  in  length,  were  selected.  These  bars  were  so 
welded  together  in  the  middle  that  the  eight  points,  sharp- 
ened  to    an    edge,    projected    out    in    opposite    directions. 

'  Second  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Secrecy,  Appendix,  p.  21,  in 
Reports  of  Committees,  op.  cit.,  x,  8ig.  The  evidence  of  a  connection 
between  the  societies  and  the  naval  mutinies,  is  suflficiently  clear,  and 
what  is  more  serious,  from  the  government's  standpoint,  the  London 
populace  stood  as  willingly  behind  the  naval  mutineers  as  it  did  be- 
hind the  deserters  from  the  army.  For  we  learn  that  two  naval  offi- 
cers met  openly  one  of  the  mutineers  on  the  Strand ;  they  collared 
him :  he  knocked  one  down  and  escaped  from  the  other.  The  crowd 
made  no  effort  to  assist  the  officers.    London  Chronicle.  June  22,  1797. 

-  State  Trials,  xxiv,  665. 


2i8  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [218 

When  hurled  to  the  ground  before  oncoming  horses,  one 
end  would  be  impaled  in  the  ground,  while  the  other,  pro- 
jecting outward,  provided  for  a  time  an  unsurmountable 
obstacle.  The  calthrop  or  "  night  cat  "  was,  indeed,  a 
portable,  inexpensive  and  effective  weapon. 

In  London,  the  focal  point  of  the  radical  propaganda, 
many  had  procured  weapons.  The  wealthier  members  of 
the  London  Corresponding  Society  bought  muskets  and 
organized  "  The  Lambeth  Association."  This  body  drilled 
regularly  and  even  possessed  a  uniform.  Its  ostensible 
purpose,  as  set  forth  in  the  constitution,  was  to  preserve 
order  and  to  repel  invasions.^  It  hired  a  drill  master  and 
met  at  different  private  houses  for  drill.  Among  the  mem- 
bers there  was  some  talk  of  action  upon  the  introduction 
of  Hessians  into  England. 

It  was  known  that  arrangements  had  been  made  with  the 
Sheffield  sympathizers  to  ship  pikes  from  that  town  to  Lon- 
don to  augment  the  London  supply.  Hodson,  a  witness 
in  Hardy's  trial,  gave  evidence  that  the  members  of  the 
society  were  advised  to  buy  arms,  and  testified  still  further 
that  the  following  manuscript  had  been  given  him  to  print 
in  the  form  of  a  hand-bill :  "  The  Ins  tell  us  that  we  are 
in  danger  of  invasion  from  the  French.  The  Outs  tell  us 
that  we  are  in  danger  from  the  Hessians  and  Hanover- 
ians. In  either  case  we  should  arm  ourselves,  get  arms 
and  learn  how  to  use  them."  The  Lord  Mayor  of  London 
was  perhaps  not  far  wrong  when  he  announced  in  the 
House  of  Commons  that  in  London  the  authorities  were 
resting  on  the  top  of  a  volcano. 

So  far,  although  proving  that  certain  individuals  both 
in  thought  and  in  deed  meditated  rebellion,  and  although 

1  State  Trials,  xxiv,  694. 
-  Ibid.,  xxiv,  837. 


219]  THE  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  219 

implicating  to  some  extent  the  radical  associations,  we  have 
not  established  the  fact  that  any  plot,  widespread  and 
concisely  planned,  existed.  Such  a  plot,  in  embryo  at  least, 
did  exist.  All  southern  Scotland  was  involved.  This  con- 
spiracy centred  at  Edinburgh,  and  the  radical  societies 
throughout  southern  Scotland  provided  the  necessary  or- 
ganization. Some  of  these  societies  displayed  great  activ- 
ity, as  did  that  in  Paisley,  for  on  May  23,  1794,  Dundas 
wrote  to  Pitt  that  Paisley  was  in  readiness  to  revolt,  and 
that  for  many  weeks  the  Friends  of  the  People  had  been 
arming.^  In  other  localities  preparations  lagged.  But 
whether  zealous  or  lukewarm,  all  the  societies  were  in  close 
touch  with  the  central  body  in  Edinburgh,  which  had  been 
long  noted  for  its  reforming  proclivities.  It  was  here  that 
the  radicals  had  met  in  convention.  It  was  here  that  a 
larger  number  of  artisans  were  gathered  than  in  any  other 
part  of  Scotland.  Among  these  men,  many  of  whom  were 
unemployed,  the  seeds  of  rebellion  found  a  fruitful  soil. 
The  dispersing  of  the  Edinburgh  Convention,  with  the 
consequent  suppression  of  free  speech,  together  with  the 
industrial  depression,  drove  many  of  these  men  into  the 
ranks  of  the  radical  societies. 

After  the  dispersion  of  the  British  Convention,  the 
Friends  of  the  People  in  Edinburgh  kept  up  their  organiza- 
tion. Their  chief  executive  agent  was  a  committee,  called 
the  Committee  of  Union;  and  an  inner  committee,  that  of 
Ways  and  Means,  chosen  therefrom,  served  as  the  real 
centre  of  authority  for  the  affiliated  societies.  The  con- 
spiracy, the  details  of  which  we  are  about  to  elaborate,  was 
broached  in  this  inner  committee.  Whether  they  were  ever 
formally  adopted  by  the  chief  committee  we  do  not  know. 
The  charge  was  vigorously  denied  by  two  or  three  members 

1  Secrecy  Committee,  The  Senator,  viii,  225. 


220  BRITISH  RADICALISM 


[220 


How  much  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  their  denial  is 
difficult  to  state.  It  is  certain  that  these  very  men  tacitly 
or  openly  permitted  the  plans  to  mature/ 

The  conspiracy  was  a  complete  failure,  but  more  because 
it  was  discovered  prematurely  than  because  it  lacked  dimen- 
sions and  seriousness.  It  was  planned  that  seven  events 
should  take  place  simultaneously.    They  were : 

1.  The  capture  of  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  Clerk,  and  all 
government  officials  at  their  homes. 

2.  The  firing  of  the  excise  house  for  the  purpose  of  am- 
buscading the  military. 

3.  The  capture  of  the  castle  while  the  soldiers  were 
fighting  the  flames,  or  in  ambuscade. 

4.  The  seizure  of  the  bank  with  its  contents. 

5.  An  order  to  be  given  to  all  farmers  of  the  neigh- 
borhood to  keep  their  food  supply  at  the  disposal  of  the 
rioters. 

6.  All  gentlemen  within  three  miles  to  be  commanded 
not  to  leave  their  homes  under  penalty  of  death. 

7.  A  petition  to  be  sent  to  the  king  to  end  the  French 
war  or  take  the  consequences.^ 

This  conspiracy,  with  its  various  ramifications,  was 
nipped  in  the  bud  by  the  authorities.  It  was  discovered  by 
an  accident.  In  a  letter  to  Pitt,  Dundas  reported  the  dis- 
closures, which  finally  brought  to  light  the  whole  affair. 
This  letter,  written  on  May  19,  1794,  tells  us,  that  when 
the  goods  and  chattels  of  a  certain  bankrupt  were  lieged, 
various  pikes  and  battle  axes  were  discovered  in  the  house 
where  he  lived.^     The  owner  of  the  house  refused  to  ac- 

^  Bonthone,  one  of  the  inner  committee,  acknowledged  that  he  as- 
sisted Fairley,  the  agent  of  the  society,  in  preparing  the  west  counties 
of  Scotland  for  the  proposed  rising. 

*  State  Trials,  xxiv,  38. 

^Secrecy  Cuinmitiee,  The  Senator,  viii,  220. 


221  ]  THE  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  221 

count  for  them.  Thereupon  the  authorities  searched  the 
houses  of  two  blacksmiths,  friends  and  intimates  of  the 
owner.  In  them  also  were  found  pikes  and  battle  axes. 
One  of  these  two  blacksmiths  fled  from  the  city,  the  other 
insisted  that  the  weapons  were  intended  for  purposes  of 
defense  alone.  Unfortunately  for  him.  his  apprentice 
swore  that  his  master  said,  "  the  battle  axes  are  for  gate 
ornaments."  These  three  men  then,  the  first  by  his  silence, 
the  second  by  his  flight,  the  third  by  his  contradictory  state- 
ments, aroused  the  government's  suspicion. 

Wholesale  arrests  were  made,  including  the  nine  mem- 
bers of  the  Committee  of  Union.  Seven  of  them  turned 
State  Evidence,  and  on  their  testimony,  Downie  and  Watt, 
the  other  members,  were  convicted  of  high  treason.  By 
the  testimony  of  these  men  not  only  is  the  conspiracy  dis- 
closed in  its  main  features,  as  already  described,  but  even 
the  method  is  made  clear  by  which  they  were  to  be  per- 
fected. The  allied  societies,  through  the  country  districts, 
were  to  be  kept  constantly  informed  of  the  determination 
of  the  central  body  at  Edinburgh,  b}''  means  of  messengers. 
Such  a  messenger  was  the  lad  Fairley.  From  him,  despite 
his  canny  secretiveness,  important  information  was  ex- 
torted. Leaving  Edinburgh  ostensibly  to  visit  his  sister  in 
Glasgow,  Fairley  spent  two  weeks  upon  the  journey,  visited 
twenty-six  towns,  and  remained  with  his  sister  a  portion 
of  an  afternoon.  Furthermore,  he  received  from  Downie, 
the  treasurer  of  the  Edinburgh  Association,  traveling 
money.  Why  he  should  have  been  given  this,  Fairley  could 
not  explain.^  In  every  one  of  these  twenty-six  localities 
Fairley  called  upon  the  leaders  of  the  Patriotic  Societies, 
including  among  them  two  surgeons  and  a  dissenting  min- 
ister.   One  of  the  surgeons,  Doctor  Forrest  of  Stirling,  con- 

'  State  Trials,  xxiv,  106-9. 


222.  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [222 

fessed  with  much  reluctance,  combined  with  a  convenient 
loss  of  memory,  that  the  words  "  arms  "  and  "  French 
Invasion  "  were  mentioned  during  his  conversation  with 
Fairley.  He  likewise  acknowledged  that  the  picture  of 
a  pike  was  drawn,  which  should  serve  as  a  model  for 
pikes  to  be  made  in  Edinburgh/  Indeed,  a  blacksmith, 
swore  upon  the  witness  stand,  that  a  man  named  Watt,  a 
member  of  the  Committee  of  Union,  had  ordered  him  to 
manufacture  five  dozen  pikes.  William  Brown,  another 
smith,  was  commissioned  to  prepare  fifteen  pikes. ^  These 
weapons,  in  both  cases,  were  to  be  paid  for  by  Downie, 
who,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Margaret  Whitecross, 
a  servant  in  his  employment,  kept  a  pike  secreted  in  his 
own  home.^  In  Watt's  home,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  twelve 
pikes  fitted  upon  poles  were  discovered,  and  in  the  smithy 
of  Orrocks,  Middleton  and  Lockhart,  two  or  three  were 
unearthed/ 

At  the  time  these  disclosures  were  made  it  was  evident 
that  the  crisis  in  Edinburgh  was  fast  approaching.  Shortly 
before  its  discovery  men  of  the  better  station  in  life,  as 
well  as  the  timid  ones,  gradually  withdrew  from  the  so- 
cieties. Of  the  former  type  was  Bonthone,  an  Edinburgh 
teacher,  who  had  been  an  enthusiastic  member  of  the 
Friends  of  the  People  and  one  of  the  committee  of  ways 
and  means.  When,  however,  Bonthone  became  aware  of 
the  proposed  plans  which  have  been  described,  he  withdrew, 
and  none  too  soon,  for  within  a  week  or  two  his  former 
colleagues  were  placed  under  arrest® 

^  State  Trials,  xxiv,  113-115. 

2  Ibid.,  xxiv,  93.  3  Ibid.,  xxiv,  88. 

■*  Ibid.,  xxiv,  85. 

^  Watt's  confession  was  sent  sealed  to  the  sheriff  the  night  before 
his  execution.  Further  details  of  this  plot  were  given  in  the  Oracle 
and  Courier,  Nov.  6,  1794. 


223]  THE  SOCIETIES  ACCUSED  OF  TREASON  223 

It  is  little  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Society  for  Political 
Information  in  Norwich  wrote  the  London  Corresponding 
Society,  and  requested  the  Society  in  London  "  to  come 
closer  to  the  main  question.  It  is  only  desired  to  know 
whether  the  generality  of  the  societies  mean  to  rest  satisfied 
with  the  Duke  of  Richmond's  plan  only;  or  whether  it  is 
their  private  design  to  rip  up  monarchy  by  the  roots,  and 
place  democracy  in  its  stead."  ^ 

1  Secrecy  Committee,  The  Senator,  viii,  157. 


CHAPTER  IV 
The  Suppression  of  Radicalism 

the  prosecution  of  the  individual.  trials  for  sedi- 
tious words  and  publications.  organized  radical- 
ism under  the  ban.  the  two  acts.  their  progress 
through  parliament.  the  passing  of  the  london 
corresponding  society 

Whatever  faults  may  be  laid  at  the  door  of  Pitt's  ad- 
ministration, it  cannot  be  accused  of  half-way  measures 
in  the  suppression  of  radicalism.  From  1792  to  1799  a 
series  of  coercive  acts,  rigidly  enforced,  crushed  most  ef- 
fectively the  incipient  growth  of  a  radical  party. 

The  first  hint  of  suppression  came  in  1792.  It  was  in  the 
form  of  a  proclamation  against  "  wicked  seditious  writings 
printed,  published  and  industriously  dispersed."  The  gov- 
ernment forthwith  endeavored  to  stamp  out  the  incipient 
growth  of  radical  opinion  by  the  use  of  judicial  machin- 
ery. From  1792,  for  ten  years  or  more,  indictments 
brought  by  the  crown  against  individual  offenders  for  the 
dissemination  of  seditious  ideas  followed  one  another  in 
quick  succession.  Several  of  these  trials  have  become 
famous  landmarks  in  the  history  of  the  liberty  of  the  press 
and  of  freedom  of  speech,  as,  for  instance,  the  trial  of 
Thomas  Paine  in  England,  and  of  Thomas  Muir  in  Scot- 
land. Paine's  trial  in  particular  has  been  quoted  from 
freely;  and,  indeed  it  was  a  memorable  one.  Erskine, 
as  counsel  for  the  defence,  never  appeared  to  better  advan- 
224  [224 


225]  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  225 

tage.  The  great  lawyer,  devoting  himself  to  principles 
alone,  made  a  comprehensive,  masterful,  impassioned  but 
yet  dignified  defence.  Freedom  to  criticise  and  condemn, 
Erskine  upheld  as  the  foundation  stone  of  liberty.  English 
history,  he  maintained,  demonstrates  that  this  right  had 
long  since  been  won,  and  the  proof  thereof  may  be  deduced 
from  Paley,  Locke,  Milton,  Hume,  Harrington  and  even 
the  great  Burke.  Specially  effective  are  these  noble  words 
of  Milton: 

"  To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure ;  not  only  meats  and 
drinks,  but  all  kind  of  knowledge,  whether  of  good  or  evil ; 
the  knowledge  cannot  defile,  nor  consequently  the  books, 
if  the  will  and  conscience  be  not  defiled. 

"  Truth  and  understanding  are  not  such  wares  as  to  be 
monopolized  and  traded  in  by  tickets,  and  statutes,  and 
standards.  We  must  not  think  to  make  a  staple  commodity 
of  all  the  knowledge  in  the  land,  to  mark  and  license  it 
like  our  broadcloth  and  our  wool-packs."  ^ 

Historians  of  our  own  day,  asserted  Erskine,  even  those 
who  stanchly  defend  the  monarchical  theory  of  the  state, 
feel  no  less  strongly  than  did  Milton  this  necessity  of 
defending  liberty  of  speech.  And  in  this  connection,  he 
cites  Hume  to  the  effect  that  "  The  spirit  of  the  people 
must  frequently  be  roused,  in  order  to  curb  the  ambition 
of  the  Court.  .  .  .  Nothing  is  so  effectual  to  this  purpose 
as  the  liberty  of  the  press,  by  which  all  the  learning,  wit, 
and  genius  of  the  nation,  may  be  employed  on  the  side  of 
freedom:  and  everyone  be  animated  to  its  defence.  As 
long,  therefore,  as  the  republican  part  of  our  government 
can  maintain  itself  against  the  monarchical,  it  will  natur- 
ally be  careful  to  keep  the  press  open,  as  of  importance  to 
its  own  preservation."  ^ 

1  Milton,  Prose  l^Vorks,  Birch  edition,  1753:  State  Trials,  xxii,  439. 

2  Hume,  Essays,  edit.  i8og,  i,  12;  State  Trials,  xxii,  442. 


226  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [226 

Where  is  there  anyone  who  would  suppress  Hume,  con- 
tended Erskine;  he,  Hke  Milton,  is  immune — nay,  more, — 
there  are  men  who  have  written  with  ten  times  the  free- 
dom of  Paine  that  have  been  unmolested,  and  for  illustra- 
tion Erskine  quotes  from  the  sermon  of  an  eminent  clergy- 
man, a  Mr.  Cappe,  of  York.  This  sermon,  preached  dur- 
ing the  American  war  of  independence,  is  full  worthy  of 
record,  for  combined  with  a  fearless  denunciation  of 
English  misgovernment  is  to  be  found  this  graceful  bene- 
diction to  the  new  America :  ''  It  may  be  in  the  purposes 
of  Providence,  on  yon  western  shores,  to  raise  the  bulwark 
of  a  purer  reformation  than  ever  Britain  patronized;  to 
found  a  less  burthensome,  more  auspicious,  stable,  and  in- 
corruptible government  than  ever  Britain  has  enjoyed; 
and  to  establish  there  a  system  of  law  more  just  and  simple 
in  its  principles,  less  intricate,  dubious,  and  dilatory  in  its 
proceedings,  more  mild  and  equitable  in  its  sanctions,  more 
easy  and  more  certain  in  its  execution ;  wherein  no  man 
can  err  through  ignorance  of  what  concerns  him,  or  want 
justice  through  poverty  or  weakness,  or  escape  it  by  legal 
artifice,  or  civil  privileges,  of  interposing  pov/er;  wherein 
the  rule  of  conduct  shall  not  be  hidden  or  disguised  in  the 
language  of  principles  and  customs  that  died  with  the  bar- 
barism which  gave  them  birth;  wherein  hasty  formulas 
shall  not  dissipate  the  reverence  that  is  due  to  the  tribunals 
and  transactions  of  justice;  wherein  obsolete  prescripts 
shall  not  pervert,  nor  entangle,  nor  impede  the  administra- 
tion of  it,  nor  in  any  instance  expose  it  to  derision  or  to 
disregard ;  wherein  misrepresentation  shall  have  no  share 
in  deciding  upon  right  and  truth ;  and  under  which  no  man 
shall  grow  great  by  the  wages  of  chicanery,  or  thrive  by 
the  quarrels  that  are  ruinous  to  his  employers."  ^ 

1  State  Trials,  xxii,  460. 


22/]  SUPPRESSIOX  OF  RADICALISM  227 

Even  the  apostle  of  conservatism,  Edmund  Burke,  once 
defined  a  free  government,  Erskine  maintained,  as  one 
where  the  people,  "  and  not  I,  are  the  natural,  lawful,  and 
competent  judges."^  Paine  himself  demands  nothing  more 
than  the  fulfilment  of  this  principle.  Indeed,  Erskine  af- 
firms: "These  are  the  sentiments  of  the  author  of  the 
'  Rights  of  Man,'  and  a  writing  can  never  be  seditious 
in  the  sense  of  the  English  law,  which  states  that  the  gov- 
ernment leans  on  the  universal  will  for  its  support.'' 

In  Edinburgh,  in  the  following  year,  in  the  trial  for 
sedition  of  Thomas  Muir,  a  twenty-six-year  old  Scottish 
reformer,  the  accusation  was  that  Muir  had  circulated  dan- 
gerous books,  among  them  Paine's  ''  Rights  of  Man,"  and 
Volney's  "  Dialogue  betwixt  governors  and  governed." 
The  extract  from  Volney,  in  the  indictment,  runs  as 
follows : 

"  Civil  Governors  :  'The  law  enacts  that  ye  be  submissive.' 
People:  '  The  law  is  the  general  will.  .  .   .' 
Civil  Governors:  '  You  be  a  rebellious  people.' 
People:  'A  nation  cannot  revolt;  tyrants  are  the  only 
rebels.  .  .  .' 

Whereupon  the  ecclesiastical  governor  said :  '  There 
now  is  but  one  resource  left :  the  people  are  superstitious ; 
we  must  frighten  them  with  the  name  of  God  and  of  re- 
ligion.' 

Priests :  '  Our  dearly  beloved  brethren,  our  children, 
God  has  appointed  us  to  govern  you.' 

People:  '  Produce  to  us  your  heavenly  powers.' 
Priests :  '  You  must  have  faith.     Reason  will  lead  you 
astray.' 

People :  '  Do  you  govern,  then,  without  reason  ?' 
Priests :  '  God   ordains   peace ;    religion   prescribes   obe- 
dience.' 

1  Burke,  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  works  edit.  1808,  iii,  183 ; 
State  Trials,  xxii,  436. 


228  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [228 

People:  '  Peace  presupposes  justice.  Obedience  has  the 
right  to  know  the  law  it  bows  to.' 

Priests:  '  Man  is  only  born  into  this  world  to  suffer.' 
People:  '  Do  you  then  set  us  the  example.' 
Priests :  '  Will  you  live  without  God  and  without  kings.' 
People :  '  We  will  live  v.-ithout  tyrants  and  without  im- 
posters.'  "  ^ 

Furthermore,  it  was  asserted,  on  the  testimony  of  a  ser- 
vant girl,  that  these  words  were  read  by  Muir  in  his  father's 
dining-room  before  his  mother,  sister,  and  various  other 
folk  whom  the  servant  did  not  know.  Muir,  however, 
acknowledged  that  he  approved  of  this  book,  and  even  that 
he  upheld  certain  of  the  principles  of  Mr.  Paine.  He  de- 
nied that  he  wholly  approved  of  Paine,  but  nevertheless  he 
appeared  quite  unashamed  of  his  conduct.  Furthermore, 
he  had  visited  France,  a  circumstance  not  mentioned  in 
the  indictment,  but  made  much  of  at  the  trial.- 

Here  was  sufficient  evidence,  and  at  any  rate  the  au- 
thorities were  predetermined  upon  their  course  of  action. 
They  packed  the  jury  with  members  of  the  loyalist  asso- 
ciation, and  Lord  Braxton,  who  presided,  was  even  re- 
ported as  having  said  to  one  of  his  acquaintances :  "  Come 
awa',  Maester  Horner,  come  awa',  and  help  us  to  hang 
ane  of  thae  daamed  scoondrels." 

The  jury  found  Muir  guilty,  and  he  was  sentenced  by 

1  State  Trials,  xx"ii,  123.  This  dialogue  was  evidently  widely  known, 
for  we  find  it  iTinted  and  bound  with  other  dialogues  and  letters  more 
characteristically  British  in  tone,  vide  Letter  from  Ralph  Hodge  to 
his  cousin,  Thomas  Bull. 

*  A  modern  historian  regards  his  foreign  trip  as  very  suspicious.  He 
quotes  a  letter  to  Henry  Dundas  from  his  nephew  Robert,  to  the  effect 
that  Muir  was  an  emissary  from  France,  and  he  regards  Muir's  de- 
fense that  he  went  to  Paris  on  the  representation  of  certain  English 
radicals  to  plead  for  the  life  of  the  French  king  as  scarcely  credible. 
Ros-i,  William  Pitt  and  the  Great  War,  p.  176. 


229]  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  229 

the  court  to  transportation  for  fourteen  years.  That  this 
punishment  was  meted  out  to  a  man  for  recommending 
Paine  to  his  barber  is  at  least  significant.  Even  more  so 
is  the  fact  that  a  British  judge  should  close  his  charge 
to  the  jury  as  follows:  "Mr.  Muir  might  have  known 
that  no  attrition  could  be  paid  (by  parliament)  to  such  a 
rabble  (the  petitioners  for  reform).  What  right  had  they 
to  representation f  He  could  have  told  them  that  the  par- 
liament would  never  listen  to  their  petition.  How  could 
they  think  of  it?  A  Govermnent  in  every  country  should 
he  just  like  a  corporation;  and,  in  this  country,  it  is  made 
np  of  the  landed  interest,  which  alone  has  a  right  to  be 
represented.  As  for  the  rabble,  who  have  nothing  but  per 
sonal  property,  zvhat  hold  has  the  nation  on  thenif  What 
security  for  the  payment  of  their  taxes?  They  may  pack 
up  all  their  property  on  their  backs,  and  leave  the  country 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  But  landed  property  cannot  be 
removed."  ^ 

One  other  trial  claims  our  attention.  In  the  summer  of 
1793,  William  Winterbotham,  a  Baptist  minister,  was  in- 
dicted on  the  charge  of  uttering  seditious  words  in  a  ser- 
mon. Winterbotham,  like  all  good  dissenters,  was  accus- 
tomed to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the  revolution  of 
1688  by  preaching  a  thanksgiving  sermon.  The  watchful 
Tories,  on  the  qui  vive  at  these  occasions,  stationed,  in 
1792,  several  representatives  in  the  Baptist  meeting-house 

^  "  This  language  is  so  outrageous  that  it  might  be  ascribed  to  in- 
accuracy or  hostility  in  the  reporter,  were  it  not  that  this  is  the  same 
in  all  the  reports,  even  those  by  the  most  ardent  party  friends ;  and 
though  severely  commented  on  in  Parliament,  it  was  never  disclaimed. 
Howell  says  (vol.  xxiii,  p.  117,  note),  that  he  compiled  his  State  Trials 
out  of  all  the  reports,  which,  however,  did  not  suffer  materially,  and 
were  '  in  no  instance  contradictory.'  The  truth  is,  such  passages  were 
those  by  which  their  Lordships  thought  that  they  were  best  performing 
their  duty,  and  they  were  always  the  most  emphatically  delivered." 
This  note  is  taken  directly  from  Cockburn,  op.  cit.,  i,  177. 


230  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [230 

at  Plymouth.  These  reporters  for  Toryism  told  a  fright- 
ful tale.  The  first  witness  for  the  crown  deposed  that 
Winterbotham  not  only  approved  of  the  revolution  in 
France,  but  also  said  that  it  had  opened  the  eyes  of  Britons, 
and  in  the  reported  words  of  the  witness :  "  He  then  spoke 
of  the  method  of  taxation  in  England,  and  said  a  tax- 
gatherer  wnll  come  into  your  house,  and  demand  your  prop- 
erty out  of  your  pocket,  without  satisfying  you  to  what 
purpose  the  money  is  to  be  applied — he  said  that  was  not 
liberty  for  a  Briton — every  man  had  a  right  in  a  land  of 
liberty  to  know  how  his  money  was  to  be  applied. — He 
then  spoke  of  the  expenses  of  the  late  armaments — said  he 
disapproved  of  three  of  them, — and  said  they  were  man- 
oeuvres for  ministers  to  make  up  their  accounts ; — said 
then,  how  are  your  streets  crowded  with  poor,  your  poor 
houses  with  vagrants,  and  your  gaols  with  thieves — it  is 
all  owing  to  your  oppressive  taxes. — He  then  said  he  had 
often  heard  people  talk  what  a  happy  land  they  lived  in, 
and  what  a  mild  government  they  laboured  under;  but 
that  it  was  no  such  thing ; — he  was  much  astonished  at  their 
quietness;  and  added,  it  is  high  time  you  should  stand  for- 
ward to  defend  your  rights. — He  then  said  he  was  sorry 
to  see  justice  so  abused — said  no  magistrate  or  justice  had 
any  right  to  hold  his  office,  unless  he  obeyed  his  trust,  not 
even  his  majesty,  if  he  did  not  see  the  laws  duly  observed, 
he  had  no  more  right  to  the  throne  than  a  Stuart ;  and  he 
concluded  by  saying,  he  hoped  we  should  soon  see  better 
times."  ^ 

This  witness,  however,  was  not  over  intelligent  upon  his 
cross-examination,  as  the  following  colloquy  indicates : 
"  You  have  told  us  Mr.  Winterbotham  said  his  majesty, 
if  he  did  not  see  the  laws  duly  observed,   had  no  more 

^  State  Trials,  xxii,  828. 


231]  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  231 

right  to  the  throne  than  a  Stuart ;  what  did  you  understand 
by  a  Stuart — I  understood  he  meant  by  a  Stewart,  some 
officer  under  the  crown ; — I  considered  it  in  the  light  of  a 
gentleman's  steward.  You  thought  Mr.  Winterbotham 
meant  some  officer  under  the  crown  like  a  gentleman's 
steward? — Yes;  I  took  very  little  notice  of  it,  and  did  not 
think  much  about  it.  You  took  but  little  notice,  and  paid 
but  little  attention  then  to  what  was  meant? — No;  I  paid 
very  little  attention  to  what  his  meaning  was  about  the 
Stewards."  ^ 

Other  witnesses  for  the  prosecution,  avoiding  pit-falls 
of  definition,  agreed  that  incriminating  words  had  been 
delivered.  For  the  defence,  on  the  contrary,  many  reput- 
able citizens  testified  that  the  minister  never  said  that  the 
French  revolution  would  open  the  eyes  of  Britons.  Mem- 
bers of  his  congregation  indignantly  denied  also  that  their 
pastor  mentioned  oppressive  taxation,  or  that  he  used  the 
word  oppressive  in  any  connection.  Indeed,  one  sturdy 
dissenter  affirmed  that  Winterbotham's  sermon  was  far 
from  militant,  for  if  he  had  "  endeavored,"  the  witness 
asserted,  "  to  inflame  the  minds  of  his  hearers  it  would 
have  been  impossible  for  such  language  to  have  escaped  my 
notice." 

Winterbotham  was  found  guilty  by  a  jury;  promptly 
tried  for  another  sermon,  he  was  found  guilty  again,  and 
for  the  two  offences  he  was  sentenced  by  Kenyon,  the  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  England,  to  two  years  in  prison  and  a  fine 
of  two  hundred  pounds.^ 

The  radical  movement,  however,  continued  to  grow 
The  Edinburgh  Convention  met,  and  the  possibility  of  a 
convention  of  national  magnitude  was  in  the  air.  Sterner 
measures  were  deemed  necessary  and,  on  the  twelfth  of 
May,   1794,  the  papers  and  books  of  the  London  Corres- 

^  State  Trials,  xxii,  830.  -Ibid.,   907. 


232  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [232 

ponding  Society  were  seized.  A  special  Parliamentary 
committee  was  appointed,  which  straightway  reported 
that  the  radical  societies  had  acted  illegally,  and  were 
meditating  treason.^  Two  days  after  the  seizure  of 
the  books  and  papers,  Pitt  moved  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  till  Feb- 
ruary I,  1795. 

In  introducing  this  bill  for  the  suspension  of  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus,  Pitt  stated  his  belief  that  "  a  plan  has 
been  digested  and  acted  upon ;  and  at  this  moment  is  in 
forwardness  towards  its  execution;  the  object  of  which  is 
nothing  less  than  to  assemble  a  pretended  convention  of 
the  people  for  the  purpose  of  assuming  to  itself  the  char- 
acter of  a  general  representation  of  the  nation,  superced- 
ing in  the  first  place  the  representative  capacity  of  this 
House,  and  arrogating  in  the  next  place  the  legislative 
power  of  the  country  at  large."  ^ 

The  debate  which  followed  was  long.  Typical  of  the 
Whig  opposition  was  the  speech  of  Mr.  Lambton.  He  dis- 
approved heartily  of  radical  societies.  He  knew  nothing 
about  them  at  all,  but  he  was  quite  sure  that  every  Eng- 
lishman would  unite  in  suppressing  riots  which  might 
occur.  He  also  was  convinced  that  the  existing  laws  were 
sufficient  for  any  crisis  which  might  arise.  Mr.  Young  re- 
plied for  the  government  by  instancing  Cicero's  suppres- 
sion of  Cataline,  and  emphasizing  the  secret  nature  of  the 
radical  societies,  which  made  it  impossible  to  fight  them 
in  the  open.^  Speeches  were  made  by  Gray,  Channing, 
Dundas,  Fox  and  Pitt,  and  a  vote  was  taken.  It  stood  146 
to  28  for  the  suspension.^ 

The  trials  of  the  radical  leaders  for  high  treason  now 

'  The  Senator,   1794,  p.  1173. 

'Ibid.,   p.  1206.  ^  Ibid.,   p.  1250. 


233]  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  233 

commenced.  Public  interest  grew  to  a  fever  heat  during 
their  progress.  Demonstrations,  even  somewhat  compar- 
able to  those  at  the  acquittal  of  the  seven  bishops,  greeted 
the  verdict  "  not  guilty."  Despite  a  very  heavy  November 
rain,  it  was  said  that  when  the  Hardy  verdict  was  given 
the  crowds  around  Old  Bailey  almost  prevented  access  to 
the  building,  and  the  horse  guards  and  the  city  militia  had 
to  be  summoned.^  Hard}'-  tried  to  escape  quietly,  but  he 
found  it  impossible,  and  his  friends,  with  great  rejoicing,, 
drew  him  in  a  carriage  through  all  the  town,  taking  particu- 
lar care  to  visit  the  Tory  sections." 

A  similar  greeting  was  given  to  Tooke.  Even  the  jury- 
men who  accjuitted  him  were  huzzaed  with  great  vigor/ 
while  the  Sheffield  witnesses  on  their  return  to  their  native 
town  were  wildly  acclaimed.  Gammage  and  Moody  were 
met  a  half-mile  outside  of  Sheffield  by  a  great  procession. 
A  silk  flag  was  carried,  emblematic  of  the  liberty  of  the 
press;  transparencies,  with  the  names  of  the  jurors;  flam- 
beaux, and  a  coach  decorated  on  one  side  with  a  painting 
of  the  sun,  and  on  the  other  with  a  figure  of  liberty.* 

As  for  Erskine,  the  famous  lawyer,  his  popularity  knew 
no  bounds.  He  had  defended  the  prisoners  free  of  charge  ^ 
with  a  whole-hearted  devotion  which  had  much  overtaxed 
his  strength,  and  this  the  populace  knew.  Consequently  it 
is  little  wonder  that,  when  leaving  the  court,  the  horses 

^  The  Tinier,  Nov.  5,  1794. 

*  Tlie  Courier,  Nov.  6,  1794. 

^Ibid.,  Nov.  24,  1794.  *Ibid.,  Dec.  27,  1794. 

*  Erskine  v\^rote  to  the  Corresponding  Society :  "  The  situation  of  the 
unfortunate  prisoners  entitles  them  to  enjoy  every  degree  of  tender- 
ness and  attention,  and  their  inability  to  render  me  any  professional 
compensation  does  not  remove  them  at  a  great  distance  from  me.  In 
point  of  form,  they  must  apply  to  the  court  to  assign  me  as  their 
counsel,  which  I  shall  undoubtedly  accept.  I  am,  gentlemen,  your  most 
humble  servant,  T.  Erskine."     {Place  MSS.,  27,  813.) 


234  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [234 

were  taken  from  his  carriage,  while  the  crowd  which  drew 
it  home  shouted,  "  Erskine  forever."  ^ 

In  the  midst  of  the  popular  applause  following  the  ver- 
dict of  the  Hardy  jury,  Sheridan  urged  that  Pitt's  measure, 
suspending  the  habeas  corpus,  be  repealed.  Not  only  was 
his  effort  fruitless,  but  Pitt  succeeded  in  still  further  pro- 
longing its  suspension  to  July  i,  1794.  The  ministry  on 
this  occasion  was  supported  by  a  vote  of  239  to  53. 

Nor  was  the  government  yet  content.  A  golden  oppor- 
tunity gave  it  still  further  excuse  for  yet  more  stringent 
measures.  On  October  29,  1794,  the  King  in  his  state 
coach  passed  through  Saint  James  Park  to  open  Parlia- 
ment. As  the  royal  procession  went  by,  it  was  greeted 
with  a  succession  of  groans  and  hisses,  the  bystanders 
crying  out  continually,  "  No  Pitt !  No  war !  Bread !  bread ! 
Peace!  Down  with  George!"^  On  the  way  one  of  the 
windows  of  the  king's  coach  was  broken.  Apparently  no 
stone  was  thrown,  nor  was  any  missile  found.  The  hole 
in  the  window,  very  small  and  circular,  looked  like  a  bullet 
hole.  This  hypothesis,  however,  was  impossible,  for  there 
was  no  musket  report,  and  no  damage  aside  from  the 
broken  glass. 

The  attack  on  the  king  created  wide  excitement.  The 
theory  of  the  government  was  that  an  assassination  had 
been  planned  by  means  of  a  poisoned  arrow,  blown  through 
a  blow-pipe.  Several  members  of  the  Corresponding  So- 
ciety were  arrested.  Nothing  could  be  proven  against 
them,^    but    an    excited    Parliament    nevertheless    readily 

'  Oracle  and  Public  Advertiser,  Nov.  24,  1794. 

2  Place  MSS.,  27,808,  p.  48. 

^  P.  T.  Lemaitre,  one  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  Corresponding 
Society,  stated  that  the  entire  plot  was  a  device  of  Pitt's,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  stirring  up  opinion  against  radicalism.  To  back  up  this  opin- 
ion; he  narrates  a  very  circumstantial  story  with  many  ramifications, 


235]  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  235 

passed  further  measures  of  repression.  On  November  4, 
1794,  "  The  Seditious  Meetings  Bill  "  was  introduced 
into  Parliament.  This  bill,  sweeping  in  character,  had 
two  main  features.  The  first  dealt  with  public  meetings; 
no  meeting  could  be  held  in  Great  Britain  in  accordance 
with  its  provisions,  of  more  than  fifty  persons,  unless  on 
the  application  of  seven  householders.  That  application 
once  made,  announcements  of  the  proposed  meeting  were 
sent  to  the  magistrates,  any  one  of  whom  could  end  the 
meeting  if  he  considered  that  seditious  expressions  had 
been  voiced  there.  The  second  proviso  related  to  public 
lectures,  and  was  aimed  particularly  at  Thelwal.  It  pro- 
vided that  houses  where  lectures  were  to  be  held,  for  which 
an  admittance  fee  was  to  be  charged,  must  be  licensed  by 
two  magistrates.  Failure  to  comply  with  the  first  of  the 
two  main  provisos  of  this  bill  was  to  be  regarded  as  a 
felony,  for  which  the  penalty  was  death;  violation  of  the 
second  was  punishable  by  a  heavy  fine. 

Another  act,  enlarging  and  more  clearly  defining  the 
scope  of  high  treason,  was  introduced  at  the  same  time. 
This  bill  was  entitled,  "  An  Act  for  the  Safety  and  Preser- 
vation of  His  Majesty's  Person  and  Government  against 
Treasonable  and  Seditious  Practices  and  Attempts." 

These  two  bills  were  popularly  known  as  the  two  acts. 
Their  progress  through  Parliament  was  closely  watched, 
and  hotly  debated.  A  compendium  of  the  debates,  resolu- 
tions, petitions  and  public  meetings  held  in  regard  to  them, 
published  in  the  year  1796,  comprises  some  828  pages, ^  and 
a  glance  through  it  vividly  demonstrates  the  high  pitch  of 
public  excitement  which  these  measures  provoked. 

which  include  the  malicious  schemings  of  a  watchmaker  named  Upton. 
Upton  was  a  spy  in  the  employ  of  the  government.     P.  T.  Lemaitre, 
Sotne  Remarks  Respecting  the  Supposed  Origin  of  Popgun  Plot,  Place 
MSS.,  28,  808,  p.  121. 
^  The  History  of  the  Two  Acts. 


236  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [236 

The  latter  of  the  two  bills,  an  Act  for  the  Safety  and 
Preservation  of  his  Majesty's  Person,  was  introduced  in 
the  Lords  on  October  thirtieth.  The  Duke  of  Bedford  and 
the  Earl  of  Lauderdale  vigorously  fought  its  passage.  The 
former  urged  that  there  were  laws  enough  in  existence; 
if  enforced  they  would  prove  satisfactory.^  The  Earl  of 
Lauderdale  in  vain  pointed  out  the  excessive  power  given 
to  the  judiciary  by  this  measure.  The  bill  passed  the  House 
of  Lords  on  November  thirteenth,  by  a  vote  of  sixty-six 
to  seven.  The  debate  on  the  Seditious  Meetings  bill  in  the 
Lords  began  December  ninth.  Bedford  and  Lauderdale 
were  again  the  principal  protestants.  Said  Bedford,  "  The 
present  measure  is  liable  to  be  abused  grossly,  shamefully, 
and,  I  am  afraid,  with  impunity.  I  do  not  wish  to  enter 
into  any  invective  against  characters  of  the  magistrates, 
but  it  is  not  to  be  concealed  that  many  of  those  to  whom 
so  large  a  power  is  to  be  given  by  the  present  bill  are  cor- 
rupt and  interested  men.  .  .  .  The  present  bill  is  chiefly 
calculated  to  restrain  the  lov/er  orders,  and  it  will  become 
this  House  to  recollect  the  relative  situation  in  which  they 
stand  to  that  class  of  society.  .  .  .  They  can  do  without 
us;  we  cannot  do  without  them.  .  .  .  What  has  been  the 
treatment  of  people  in  this  country?  They  have  submitted 
to  a  disastrous  and  calamitous  war  with  patience  and  resig- 
nation. Disastrous  and  calamitous  it  must  be  admitted 
by  every  man,  and  a  waste  of  blood  and  treasure  .  .  .  and 
how  were  they  induced  to  submit  in  patience,  and  to  bear 
its  evils  without  repining?  They  were  told  that  it  was  a 
war  carried  on  for  the  sake  of  liberty,  and  for  the  preser- 
vation of  their  free  constitution."  ^  There  were  not  many, 
however,  who  agreed  with  Bedford.  The  bill  received  the 
sanction  of  the  Lords  on  December  fourteenth,  by  a  vote 
of  one  hundred  and  eight  to  eighteen. 

^Parliamentary  Register,  xliii,  106.  '^  Ibid.,  186. 


237]  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  237 

The  first  mention  of  the  two  acts  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  on  November  ninth.  Every  inch  of  their  prog- 
ress w^as  vigorously  contested,  and  they  were  not  passed 
until  December  third.  The  Whig  minority, — all  that  was 
left  of  it, — fully  realized  the  import  of  the  bills.  So,  too, 
did  the  country.  Petitions  for,  and  against,  the  measures 
poured  in  on  Parliament  from  every  hand.^  Opposition, 
however,  to  the  bills,  made  but  little  impression  on  the  gov- 
ernment. Upon  the  third  reading  the  ayes  were  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-six,  the  noes  fifty-one. 

Erskine  arid  Fox  were  particularly  prominent  in  oppos- 
ing these  projects.  Erskine  pointed  out,  in  regard  to  the 
Seditious  Meetings  Bill,  that  "  no  such  act  had  been 
dreamed  of  in  the  reign  of  King  William,  or  in  the  two 
rebellions  which  raged  in  the  stibsequent  reigns."  He 
said  that  "  even  the  act  of  Charles  H,  urged  as  a  precedent, 
did  not  go  the  length  of  the  present  bill ;  it  only  allowed 
magistrates  to  interfere  when  an  overt  act  of  tumult  took 
place,  or  to  require  security  if  danger  to  the  peace  was  ap- 
prehended. But  it  never  prohibited  a.  meeting  to  be  held ; 
it  did  not  forbid  voluntary  communication,  but  prohibited 
tumultuous  petitionings.  This  bill  prohibits  petitionings 
upon  grievances  which  already  exist."  ^  It  was  a  ridiculous 
measure  Erskine  insisted,  arbitrary,  illegal  and  useless,  and 
to  prove  that  it  was  so,  he  instanced  hypothetical  cases 
which  might  arise,  where  it  would  work  grievous  injury. 

Charles  James  Fox,  in  the  debates  on  the  two  acts,  was 
at  his  best.  Never  a  painstaking  logician,  nor  even  a  con- 
sistent thinker,  Fox,  in  the  clear,  bold  and  courageous  state- 
ment of  opinion,  knew  no  superior.     The  bills,  he  said, 

^  Parliameniary  Register,  xliii,  440,  441,  442,  474,  477,  480,  495,  etc. 
-  Ibid.,  207. 


238  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [238 

were  "  an  attack  on  the  liberty  of  the  country,"  and  a 
"  subversion  of  the  constitution."  "  If  I  am  asked  how 
they  are  to  be  resisted  in  the  present  instance,  I  will  say 
by  peaceful  means;  by  petitions;  by  remonstrance;  but  if 
they  are  once  passed  into  law,  and  I  am  then  asked  how 
they  are  to  be  resisted,  I  will  then  answer  that  it  is  no 
longer  a  question  of  morality,  but  of  prudence."  ^ 

Upon  the  Tory  side  a  flood  of  oratory  was  let  loose.  Sir 
William  Poultny  insisted  that  "  no  assembly,  no  meeting 
of  the  people  could  be  held  in  America  without  the  pres- 
ence of  the  magistrates,"  and  that  the  precautions  called 
for  by  the  bills  were  indeed  necessary  to  preserve  freedom 
of  discussion."  Mr.  Wilberforce,  of  anti-slavery  fame, 
"  saw  reason  on  the  whole  for  thanking  the  ministers  who 
brought  in  the  bill."  He  thought  it  necessary  to  preserve 
the  great  mass  of  people  from  political  infection.^  Lord 
Mornington  drew  with  much  feeling  many  parallels  be- 
tween Republicanism  in  England  and  in  France,  while 
Wyndham,  Dundas  and  Pitt  spoke  more  soberly,  and  at 
greater  length  on  behalf  of  the  proposal.  The  bill  then 
became  a  law. 

A  storm  of  protest  greeted  these  coercive  measures. 
Throughout  1794,  1795  and  1796,  petitions  poured  into 
London.  Many  of  the  London  parishes  also  took  action. 
A  meeting  of  Cheap  Ward,  said  to  have  been  very  numer- 
ous, voted  five  to  one  against  the  bills.*  Similar  action 
was  taken  by  Saint  James  Ward.  In  Southwark,  amid 
great  excitement,  a  meeting  of  denunciation  was  held. 
Five  hundred  persons  were  gathered  within  a  hall,  and  as 
many  stood  without.     Someone  moved  that  only  electors 

1  Paiiiainentary  Register. 

^  Ibid.,  cv,  122.  ^  Ibid.,  cv,  133. 

*  Oracle  and  Advertiser,  Nov.  21,  1795. 


239]  SUPPRESSIOX  OF  RADICALISM  239 

should  vote.  The  motion  was  carried,  and  the  electors 
censured  the  government  by  a  large  majority/  A  meet- 
ing of  the  Lord  Mayor,  aldermen  and  liverymen  in  Com- 
mon Hall  was  held  at  the  same  time.  In  the  midst  of  tre- 
mendous uproar  resolutions  were  carried  against  the  two 
acts.^ 

Petitions  against  the  war  and  the  ministry  abounded. 
An  address  from  Middlesex  implored  Pitt  to  adopt  the 
most  decisive  measures  for  obtaining  a  speedy  and  honor- 
able peace.  From  Norfolk  and  Herford  came  petitions 
to  the  same  effect.  A  petition  in  Warwick  occasioned  the 
gathering  of  a  tremendous  crowd.  Gentlemen  seceding 
from  this  crowd  drew  up  a  counter  petition.^  An  anti-war 
meeting  in  Kent  was  largely  attended,*  and  on  one  day 
petitions  were  reported  from  Edinburgh,  Nottingham,  and 
Surrey.^     Canterbury  and  Rochester  also  held  meetings.® 

The  Tory  newspapers  took  careful  cognizance  of  this 
unrest.  They  particularly  watched  the  doings  of  the  radi- 
cals in  London.  A  meeting  in  the  Common  Hall  of  the 
city  of  London  was  summoned  by  the  Lord  Mayor  to  hear 
the  king's  answer  to  an  address  of  protest.  The  king  re- 
fused to  receive  the  address.  A  motion  was  made  pro- 
testing against  the  refusal,  and  the  mayor  unwilling  to 
put  the  motion  was  violently  hissed.^  Another  meeting 
at  the  Palace  Yard,  Westminster,  was  said  to  have  con- 

^  Oracle  and  Adieriiser.   Nov.  25,   1795. 

*  A  crowd  outside  the  hall  cheered  or  hissed  the  departing  aldermen 
as  they  voteci  for,  or  against,  the  protest.  Oracle  and  Advertiser, 
Nov.  21,    1795. 

3  True  Briton,  June  8,  1797. 

^  Chronicle,  April  19,  1797. 

5  Ibid.,  April  6,  1797.  ^  Ibid.,  May  3,  1797. 

"  Ibid.,  April  13,  1797.  The  mayor  attempted  to  stop  a  discussion. 
He  was  forced  to  give  way. 


240  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [240 

sisted  of  "a  motley  crowd,"   which  assembled   from  "  a 
neighboring  public  house."  ^ 

The  declarations  of  the  loyalists,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
impressive  in  their  constant  and  reiterated  approval  of  all 
acts  of  coercion.  The  Loyalist  Association  of  Norwich 
paraded  on  the  king's  birthday.  A  boy  on  horseback  led 
the  procession,  supported  by  figures  representing  the  army 
and  navy,  and  bearing  a  banner  which  represented  an 
angel  carrying  a  crown."  Nearly  every  parish  had  its 
loyalist  association.  One  hundred  and  forty  citizens  in  the 
parish  of  Doddington  and  its  hamlets  expressed  "  their  de- 
termination to  choke  with  their  utmost  vigilance,  the  dis- 
semination of  principles  inimical  to  the  British  constitu- 
tion." ^  And  so  numerous,  indeed,  are  these  petitions,  that 
suspicion  is  sometimes  thrown  on  their  sincerity.  We  are 
told  of  "  jail  birds  that  sing  '  God  Save  the  King '  in 
chorus,  and  sign  a  declaration  of  loyalty,"  *  and  an  inter- 
esting recipe  for  making  a  parish  loyalist  association  is 
given  us.  "  Take  the  rector,  church  warden,  overseers  and 
sidesmen  to  the  vestry.  Put  the  rector  in  the  chair,  and 
then  call  the  meeting  numerous  and  respectable.  Take  the 
attachment  to  our  happy  constitution,  king,  lords  and  com- 
mons, and  the  blessings  of  each  in  equal  quantity.  To 
which  add  the  glorious  revolution  of  1688.  Mix  well  with 
these  riots,  tumults,  insurrections,  seditious  writings,  an- 

1  True  Briton,  April  4,  1797. 

2  Norzvich  Gazette,  May  23,  1795. 

^  British  Museum,  Place  MSS.,  35,  670,  pp.  371,  372;  Hardwick  Papers, 
cccxxii,  Cambridgeshire  Militia  Correspondence.  This  toast  was  given 
at  a  corporation  dinner  in  West  England:  "May  the  tree  of  liberty  be 
transplanted  from  France  to  hell,  and  eternally  bear  as  frviit  the  souls 
of  all  republicans."  {Morning  Chronicle,  July  22,  I794-)  For  an  ad- 
dress of  the  Glasgow  Merchants,  see  ibid.,  Jan.  10,  1793. 

*  Advertiser,  March  3,  1793. 


241]  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  241 

archy,  confusion,  equality,  neighboring  nations,  and  spe- 
cious mask  of  reform,  republicans,  levellers."  ^ 

No  stone  was  left  unturned  by  the  adherents  of  the  old 
order.  Wherever  a  radical  petition  saw  the  light  of  day,  it 
was  followed,  if  possible,  by  a  counter  petition.  A  careful 
scrutiny  was  kept  on  all  quarters.  Said  the  True  Briton : 
"  What  are  the  respectable  inhabitants  of  Westminster 
about  that  they  do  not  set  on  foot  a  counter  petition  to  that 
carried  by  the  mob  of  Irish  bricklayers  and  day  laborers  on 
Monday,  in  Palace  Yard.  It  is  surely  proper  that  at  such 
times  as  this  the  real  sentiment  of  the  respectable  part  of 
the  community  should  not  be  misrepresented."  ^  Such 
pleas,  however,  hardly  sufficed.  Despite  the  best  endeavors 
of  the  Tories,  the  number  of  petitions  against  the  bills  rose 
to  ninety-seven,  while  in  their  behalf  but  sixty-five  were 
mustered.  Furthermore,  while  the  Tories  had  to  their 
credit  somewhat  under  thirty  thousand  signatures,  the  peti- 
tions against  the  bills  were  signed  by  over  one  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand.^  The  ministry  did  not  worry  over 
these  petitions.  What  though  a  huge  majority  of  the  na- 
tion was  opposed  to  the  two  acts,  did  not  an  influential 
minority  uphold  the  hand  of  the  government?  Was  not 
the  church,  the  aristocracy,  the  landed  and  commercial 
interests  solidly  arrayed  in  their  support?*  Nor  was  this 
all.  Pitt  gauged  the  situation  aright.  He  realized  that  pa- 
triotism was  a  trump  card  which  he  could  always  play. 
His  newspaper  ally,  the  True  Briton,  in  explaining  the  anti- 

1  Gazette,  February  27,  17^. 

2  True  Briton,  August  6,  1797. 

^  History  of  the  Two  Acts,  pp.  826,  827. 

*  The  petitions  for  the  acts  quite  generally  were  written  in  the  name 
of  the  gentlemen,  clergy,  freeholders,  and  others.  Many  petitions  from 
purely  clerical  sources  were  submitted  in  behalf  of  the  two  acts.  None 
are  recorded  against  them. 


242  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [242 

administration  sentiment  in  the  nation,  contended  that 
"  the  agents  of  the  Gallican  party  are  busily  employed  in 
convening  partial  meetings  of  the  people  in  the  different 
parts  of  the  country,  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  the 
king  to  dismiss  his  present  ministers  forever,  and  in  conse- 
quence to  assign  ...  all  places  of  trust  and  emolument  to 
their  worthy  patrons.^ 

This  suggestion,  even  if  devoid  of  truth,  was  not  devoid 
of  influence.  The  bills  once  made  law,  the  great  bulk  of 
moderately-minded  citizens  acquiesced  apparently  in  the 
action  of  the  government — if  not  from  rational,  at  least 
from  patriotic  motives. 

The  story  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society,  from 
the  treason  trials  in  1794  till  its  final  disappearance  in 
1798,  is  one  of  constant  repression  and  growing  weakness. 
The  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  enabled  the 
government  to  arrest  and  hold  on  suspicion  its  leading 
members.  These  men,  if  their  own  story  be  accredited, 
endured  very  harsh  treatment.  Their  story  was  gathered 
by  the  indefatigable  Francis  Place,  in  a  general  narrative 
of  persons  committed  under  suspicion.  The  testimony 
John  Oxade  gives  is  typical.  Oxade,  by  profession  a 
master  bookbinder,  was  apprehended  so  quietly  that  his 
family  did  not  know  for  a  time  what  had  become  of  him. 
One  day  in  prison  Oxade  noticed  a  plumber  mending  a 
drain.  Through  his  help,  the  first  news  of  his  arrest  was 
spread  abroad.  Oxade  tells  us,  that  "  the  aristocratic  gov- 
ernor kept  me  a  close  prisoner  in  a  solitary  cell,  upon  bread 
and  water.  Although  no  charge  was  made  against  me,  yet 
at  the  time  my  father,  with  competent  witnesses,  came  to 
demand  a  copy  of  my  indictment,  he  told  them  that  he 

1  True  Briton,  April  10,  1797. 


243]  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  243 

knew  nothing  at  all  about  me."  ^  "  Among  the  other  regu- 
lations," he  said,  "  was  that  of  shaving  the  prisoners  twice 
a  week.  .  .  .  We  strongly  objected  to  it,  on  account  of  the 
rough  manner  of  performing  it.  We  therefore  agreed  with 
the  head  turnkey  that  he  should  perform  it,  and  that  we 
should  make  him  a  compliment  for  his  trouble."  ^  The 
turnkey  by  this  arrangement  made  between  three  and  four 
pounds  a  week. 

Great  difficulty  was  experienced  by  the  prisoners  in  see- 
ing their  kith  and  kin.  Oxade  wrote  that  they  secured  the 
favor  "  of  seeing  their  friends  from  the  Privy  Council, 
only  to  discover  that  the  hour  set  for  such  visits  was  the 
same  as  that  apportioned  for  the  convicts  to  receive  their 
visitors.  No  difference  was  made  between  the  treatment 
which  the  political  prisoners  received,  and  that  meted  out 
to  the  convicts,  and  he  then  describes  how  he  and  his 
father  were  separated  by  two  iron  gates,  between  which 
sentries  were  stationed.  ^  The  sanitary  conditions  of  the 
prisons  and  the  indecencies  to  which  the  members  of  the 
Society  were  subjected,  were  described  with  more  gusto 
than  good  taste,  and  when  we  are  told  that  they  were  clas- 
sified in  the  same  category  with  the  mutineers  of  the  Nore, 
the  treatment  accorded  to  these  suspects  only  becomes  the 
more  ruthless.* 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  political  prisoners  exiled  to  Aus- 
tralia endured  hardships  equally  distressing.  Nor  did 
community  of  interest  prevent  the  exiles  from  quarreling 
with  one  another.  Margarot,  the  representative  of  the 
London  Corresponding  Society,  apparently  became  over 
friendly  with  the  captain  of  the  transport,  and  this  the 
other  exiles  disliked.     They  tell  us  that  they  do  not  intend 

1  Place  MSS.,  27,  809,  p.  207.  '  I6id. ,  p.  220. 

=>  Ibid.,  p.  230.  *  Ibid.,  p.  343. 


244  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [244 

"to  give  a  detailed  account  of  their  personal  suffering,  but  the 
sacred  regard  to  justice  which  they  owe  to  their  country, 
and  that  invaluable  honor  attached  to  their  condition  calls 
on  them  to  declare  that  Mr.  Margarot  was  an  accessory  to 
the  wrongs  which  they  suffered."  ^  Mr,  Margarot  is  then 
informed  that  he  must  no  longer  "  pollute  the  immortal 
cause  of  liberty  "  by  attempting  to  associate  with  them,  for 
he  knows  well,  so  the  narrative  runs,  that  "  he  stands  re- 
jected and  expelled  from  their  society."  This  quarrel 
continued  for  several  years,  for  the  voluble  Margarot 
wrote  in  1796  that  Gerrald  arrived,  and  was  seduced  from 
him  by  his  enemy,  Palmer.  And  he  then  implies  that 
Palmer,  by  improper  practices,  filched  from  Gerrald's 
daughter  most  of  his  property.^ 

The  London  Corresponding  Society,  its  leaders  arrested 
and  imprisoned,  its  meetings  prohibited,  and  its  publica- 
tions sequestered,  soon  fell  a  prey  to  internal  dissensions. 
A  harmonious  spirit  had  pervaded  the  society  in  the  midst 
of  early  vicissitudes,  and  there  is  little  evidence  of  any 
friction  within  its  membership,  judging  from  the  min- 
utes, till  1793.  In  that  year  the  arbitrary  power  of  the 
central  committee  met  with  some  criticism.  One  Godfrey, 
representing  a  small  division,  objected  in  vain  to  the  cen- 
tral committee  petitioning  in  the  name  of  the  society  with- 
out a  referendum,^  and  a  general  poll  of  the  entire  society 
was  taken  April  27,  1795,  to  determine  the  authority  which 
the  central  committee  might  exercise. 

No  very  serious  trouble,  however,  made  its  appearance 
before  1797.     A  schism  came  in  that  year,  from  which  the 

^"Epitome  of  a  Narrative  of  the  Sufferings  of  Palmer  and  Skirving 
during  a  voyage  to  New  South  Wales  in  1794,  on  board  the  transport 
Surprise,"  Place  MSS.,  27,  816,  p.  3. 

"^  Margarot  to  L.  Goddard,  Place  MSS.,  27,  816,  p.  no. 

'  Ibid..  27,  812,  Journal  of  the  Society. 


245]  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  245 

much  harrassed  and  already  greatly  weakened  society  never 
recovered.  This  discord  was  caused  by  the  proposed  hold- 
ing of  public  meetings  in  defiance  of  the  law.  The  wiser 
men  in  the  society  opposed  the  holding  of  illegal  meetings. 
They  were  also  anxious  to  raise  the  dues  to  one  shilling  a 
week,  and  at  the  same  time  they  were  not  willing  to  spend 
any  money,  save  for  necessities,  till  the  debt  was  paid- 
The  majority,  however,  determined  to  hold  a  public  meet- 
ing, and  as  a  result,  Place  and  Ashley  resigned  in  disgust.^ 
They  were  not  the  only  ones  who  left.  On  August  3, 
1797,  a  letter  was  read  from  twenty-one  men  who,  because 
of  the  proposed  public  meeting,  withdrew.  The  seceders 
assured  the  society  that  their  action  was  determined  by  a 
difference,  not  in  principle,  but  in  method."  The  parent 
society  must  have  seen  them  depart  with  a  heavy  heart. 

The  career  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society,  in- 
deed, was  about  over.  In  vain  did  it  attempt  to  encourage 
the  waverer  by  this  printed  appeal :  "  Fly  then  to  the 
standards  you  have  deserted.  Let  not  the  men  who  have 
braved  the  vengeance  of  apostates,  and  all  the  rage  of 
association  grandeur,  be  unworthy  of  their  trophies — per- 
severance will  give  you  everything — and  while  every  village 
lifts  its  feeble  head  and  looks  to  be  fostered  by  you — deny 
it  not — rally  to  your  division."  ^  In  vain,  too,  was  a  plan 
to  defeat  the  purpose  of  the  Sedition  Bill.*  The  member- 
ship still  continued  to  fall  off,  and  ere  long,  so  completely 
had  the  executive  machinery  broken  down,  that  some  of 
the  divisions  were  quite  in  ignorance  of  what  was  taking 

1  Place  MSS.,  27,  808,  p.  80. 

*  Ihid.,  27,  815,  vol.  5,  p.  165.  •■*  Ihid.,  p.  i54- 

*  lh\d.,  27,  808,  p.  68.  While  on  a  mission  in  behalf  of  this  plan,  Binn, 
an  agent  of  the  Society,  was  tried  for  high  treason.  In  the  indictment 
he  was  charged  with  advocating  resistance  by  force  of  arms.  {State 
Trials,  xxvi,  640,  641.) 


246  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [246 

place  in  the  others.  We  know  little  of  the  activities  of  the 
society  at  this  time.  No  pamphlets  were  published  by  it 
in  this  year.  Had  there  been  funds  to  pay  for  any,  other 
obstacles  might  have  proven  insurmountable.  Abuse  and 
satire  were  the  only  remaining  weapons  as  the  following 
broadside  demonstrates. 

"  A  Creed 
for  all  Good  and  Loyal  Subjects  who  go  to 

St.  Paul's, 
on  19th.  Dec,  1797. 
"I  believe  in  God  as  by  law  established — in  Billy  Pitt,  Heaven 
commissioned  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer;  Promoter  of  all 
court  intrigues,  visible  and  invisible ;  creator  and  master  of 
laws  and  commons  whose  politics  are  pure  and  morals  un- 
tainted ;  and  Secretary  Harry  Dundas,  the  only  beloved  of 
Billy  Pitt,  beloved  before  all  women,  man  of  men,  head  of 
heads,  minister  of  ministers,  beloved  not  hated,  being  of  one 
opinion  with  his  patron,  by  whom  all  ministers  are  made ;  who 
for  us  men  and  our  taxation  came  out  of  Scotland  and  talked 
much  in  the  house  of  integrity  and  was  appointed  East  India 
Comptroller  under  Billy  Pitt,  and  went  into  Scotland,  and 
was  there  burned  in  effig}';  and  the  third  day  he  came  back 
again  (according  to  the  newspapers)  and  ascended  into  office 
and  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  his  patron,  to  judge  both  loyal 
and  disloyal,  whose  folly  shall  have  no  end — and  I  believe 
that  murder,  rapine,  plunder  and  burning  are  the  true  and 
proper  means  of  conciliating  the  affections  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Ireland,  whom  I  believe  to  be  the  natural  slaves  of  the 
British  Cabinet;  and  I  believe  in  the  House  of  Boroughs,  the 
legal  representatives  of  the  people,  elected  by  one  hundred  and 
sixty-two  persons,  either  peers,  sinecure  placemen  or  imme- 
diate servants  of  the  K — g,  who  can  do  no  wrong — and  I 
believe  in  Ge — ge  the  T — D,  Lord  and  giver  of  places,  who, 
together  with  Billy  Pitt,  is  worshiped  and  glorified,  who  spoke 
by  a  proclamation ;  and  I  believe  in  paper  money  and  national 


247  J  SUPPRESSION  OF  RADICALISM  247 

bankruptcy  as  outward  and  visible  signs  of  the  nation's  pros- 
perity ;  and  I  look  for  the  remission  of  taxes  not  till  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,  and  I  look  for  better  government  in  the 
world  to  come."  ^ 

On  the  nineteenth  of  April,  1798,  the  end  came.  In  the 
Queen  of  Bohemia  Tavern,  the  general  committee,  if  we  ac- 
cept its  explanation,  was  discussing  a  proposed  offer  of  the 
services  of  the  society  to  the  government,  in  case  of  in- 
vasion. While  engaged  in  this  patriotic  debate,  the  entire 
committee  was  apprehended  and  bundled  off  to  prison.^ 
The  London  Corresponding  Society  now  disappears  from 
history.  A  few  of  the  more  irreconcilable  members 
were  unwilling  to  cease  their  agitation,  and  in  the  same 
year,  1798,  they  were  organized  by  O'Ouigley,  a  represen- 
tative of  the  United  Irishmen,  into  a  new  organization 
known  as  the  United  Englishmen.  A  brotherhood  of 
United  Scotchmen  also  was  founded,  and  it  was  expected 
that  it  would  co-operate  with  the  United  Englishmen. 
The  disappearance  of  the  London  Corresponding  Society, 
however,  brings  to  an  end  our  review  of  British  Radical- 
ism, 1791-1797. 

1  This  broadside  is  'bound  in  a  volume  compiled  by  Francis  Place.  It 
is  catalogued  in  Place's  handwriting,  under  the  caption,  Corresponding 
Society's  Publications.  The  volume  is  one  of  a  series  in  the  Place 
collection  in  the  private  library  of  Professor  E.  R.  A.  Seligman, 
Columbia  University. 

'  Place  MSS.,  27,  808,  p.  90. 


CONCLUSION 

We  are  assured  by  an  eminent  contemporaneous  his- 
torian that  the  "  Reflections  "  of  Edmund  Burke  will  be 
forever  the  political  book  of  prophecy  for  the  English  na- 
tion/ This  statement  reflects  the  prevalent  estimate  of 
Burke's  book,  an  estimate  which,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
has  been  rendered  well-nigh  unanimous.  Nevertheless,  a 
dissenting  opinion  is  not  without  rational  foundation.  Nay, 
more,  if  our  conclusion  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  first  sec- 
tion of  this  treatise,  such  dissent  is  inevitable.  Not  with- 
out timidity  should  one  approach  the  sacred  fane  of  Ed- 
mund Burke.  Warned  by  the  admonition  of  a  recent 
editor  that  only  those  of  riper  years  may  grasp  the  true 
inwardness  of  the  great  philosopher,  the  author  has  been 
especially  watchful  of  the  indiscreet  sentence  and  un- 
guarded word.  And  yet,  to  comment  upon  Burke  at  all 
throughout  the  body  of  this  work  has  seemed  superfluous. 
The  accumulated  weight  of  radical  argument  which  we 
have  hurled  at  the  conservative  defences,  is  sufficiently  con- 
clusive to  demonstrate  their  weakness  and  instability. 

Certain  inferences  and  conclusions,  however,  may  be 
drawn  from  the  contention  between  Burke  and  his  enemies. 
A  preliminary  survey  of  the  social  conditions  of  England, 
both  economic  and  political,  is  not  calculated  to  arouse  any 
impetuous  enthusiasm  for  the  defenders  of  the  status  quo; 
and  an  intensive  study  of  contemporary  opinion  arouses 
less.  The  sordid  revelation  of  misery,  want  and  crime,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  of  chicanery,  fraud  and  corruption  on 

1  Rose,  William  Pitt  and  the  National  Revival,  p.  556. 
248  [248 


249]  CONCLUSION  249 

the  other,  transforms  suspicion  into  certainty  and  luke- 
warmness  into  condemnation.  Wollstonecraft  suspected 
that  Burke's  reasoning  powers  were  undermined,  and  it  is 
charitable  to  accept  her  explanation,  since  palliation  for  the 
conclusions  of  Burke  on  the  French  Revolution  there  is  none. 
Yet  Burke  has  been  all  but  glorified  by  the  mystic  glamour 
which  tradition  so  superbly  casts  about  her  heroes,  and  a 
taboo  holy  and  sacrosanct  is  attached  to  his  book.  This 
taboo,  like  many  another,  is  but  a  taboo  in  theory,  for  the 
constitution  of  modern  England  can  hardly  be  said  to  re- 
semble the  idealized  political  structure  which  Burke  pic- 
tured as  perfection.  The  Lloyd-George  budget,  with  its 
taxation  of  the  unearned  increment,  attests  but  scant  respect 
for  property  as  a  God-inspired  pillar  of  the  commonwealth. 
The  impending  denationalization  of  the  Welsh  establish- 
ment, and  the  present-day  weakening  of  the  ecclesiastical 
control  of  education  betokens  as  little  awe  of  the  Anglican 
Church.  Furthermore,  with  the  practical  elimination  of 
the  House  of  Lords  accomplished,  and  the  extension  of  suf- 
frage to  all  adults  without  distinction  of  sex  imminent,  the 
corporation-controlled  government  of  England,  which 
Burke  loved  so  well,  may  be  looked  for  in  vain.  Modern 
England,  apparently,  is  neglecting  her  political  book  of 
proverbs. 

The  admirer  of  Burke  is  prone  to  hail  with  great  enthu- 
siasm the  noble  principles  and  generalizations  which  crowd 
the  "  Reflections,"  and  this  is  done  with  some  show  of 
justice.  Many  of  the  generalizations  are  well  written,  and 
a  few  undoubtedly  are  worthy  of  respect.  To  analyze  and 
discuss  abstract  principles,  however,  is  a  dangerous  pro- 
cedure, for  the  scholastic  pitfalls  of  philosophy  are  many 
and  well  concealed.  We  do  deny  the  conclusions  of  Edmund 
Burke,  but  we  make  no  claim  to  controvert  the  abstrac- 
tions of  the  Burkian  philosophy.     They  may  be  admirable, 


250  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [250 

but  it  is  perhaps  as  well  to  regard  them  with  suspicion, 
and  as  an  illustration  in  point  we  would  quote  from  J. 
Holland  Rose's  scholarly  biography  of  Pitt.  Mr.  Rose 
writes  that  we  are  apt  to  be  impressed  by  the  remarks  of 
Paine  "  until  we  contrast  them  with  the  majestic  period 
wherein  Burke  depicts  human  society  as  a  venerable  and 
mysterious  whole  bequeathed  by  the  wisdom  of  our  fore- 
fathers. An  admirer  of  Burke  [he  tells  us]  cannot  but 
quote  the  following  passage  in  full :  '  Our  political  system 
is  placed  in  a  just  correspondence  and  symmetry  with  the 
order  of  the  world,  and  with  the  mode  of  existence  decreed 
to  a  permanent  body  composed  of  transitory  parts ;  wherein 
by  the  disposition  of  a  stupendous  wisdom,  moulding  to- 
gether the  great  mysterious  incorporation  of  the  human 
race,  the  whole,  at  one  time,  is  never  old,  or  middle-aged, 
or  young,  but  in  a  condition  of  unchangeable  constancy, 
moves  on  through  the  varied  tenour  of  perpetual  decay, 
fall,  renovation  and  progression.  Thus  by  preserving  the 
method  of  nature  in  the  conduct  of  the  state,  in  what  we 
improve  we  are  never  wholly  new ;  in  what  we  retain  we 
are  never  wholly  obsolete.'  "  ^  The  friends  of  Burke  must 
admit  that  the  meaning  and  intent  of  this  passage  is  not 
particularly  lucid.  Yet  the  conservatism  of  the  time  stands 
or  falls  with  Burke.  It  is  true  that  Hannah  Moore  and 
John  Reeves  serve  a  useful  purpose  as  illustrative  of  a 
certain  attitude  toward  life,  but  the  inconsequential  preach- 
ments of  the  one,  and  the  musty  Bourbonism  of  the  other, 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  rational  synthesis  may  be  brushed 
aside.  There  remains  only  the  author  of  the  "  Reflections." 
Radical  theory  was  by  no  means  free  from  error.  The 
majority  of  the  radicals  were  frequently  led  astray  by  two 
natural,  but  perhaps  inevitable,  blunders ;  for  in  avoiding 
the  Scylla  of  vague  emotionalism  they  were  drawn  into 

1  Rose,  William  Pitt  and  the  Great  War,  p.  19. 


251]  CONCLUSION  251 

the  Charybdis  of  exaggerated  detail  and  over-refined  minu- 
tiae. The  "  Rights  of  Man  "  may  well  serve  to  illustrate 
these  two  tendencies.  In  the  first  part  there  is  a  passionate 
defence  of  humanity.  But  humanity  is  a  large  term :  it 
was  one  of  the  weaknesses  of  eighteenth-century  radicalism 
that  it  phrased  its  aspirations  in  the  large  and  vague  for- 
mulae of  natural  law  and  universals.  If  the  rationalism 
which  Paine  advocated  was  to  realize  its  larger  dreams  it 
must  be  directed  into  straight  and  definite  channels.  The 
dogmas  of  a  Condorcet  follow  after  the  vision  of  a  Rous- 
seau. So  also  is  the  wide  sweep  of  Paine's  idealism  to  be 
compressed  into  specific  and  exact  demands.  Consequently 
he  wrote  a  second  part  to  the  "  Rights  of  Man,"  and  in  it 
we  may  easily  catch  the  drift  of  the  author's  mind.  The 
reaction  from  Rousseau  had  set  in,  and  it  was  healthy,  but 
its  effect  was  too  powerful,  too  far-reaching.  Clearness 
of  thought  and  preciseness  of  definition  does  not  necessitate 
a  homeopathic  division  of  the  national  income  so  that  one 
may  determine  the  exact  number  of  officials  that  the  state 
may  employ  at  an  annual  salary  of  seventy-five  pounds  per 
man;  yet  that  is  the  kind  of  blunder  which  Paine  continu- 
ally makes.  His  very  anxiety  to  be  precise  defeats  his  own 
purpose,  and  in  consequence  at  first  glance  his  pamphlets 
often  appear  artificial  and  bizarre. 

This  unfortunate  elaboration  of  detail  is  particularly 
true  of  those  pamphleteers  who  bring  forward  their  own 
individual  panaceas  for  political  corruption.  Indeed,  it  is 
a  characteristic  failing  of  almost  all  eighteenth-century 
radicals.  A  notable  exception  is  afforded  by  Mary  Woll- 
stonecraft.  The  individual  development  of  this  woman's 
revolutionary  thought  took  a  form  at  once  more  original 
and  more  daring  than  her  vindication  of  humanity. 
Paine,  "  the  Rousseau  of  English  democracy,"  con- 
tended sturdily  for  an  ideal  which  stretched  back  to  the 


252  BRITISH  RADICALISM  [252 

time  of  the  Pharaohs.  Wollstonecraft,  as  good  a  fighter 
and  as  uncompromising,  fought  for  a  new  ideal,  hitherto 
unformulated  and  perhaps  undreamed.  But  her  intelli- 
gence and  her  audacity  were  far  above  the  rank  and  file  of 
her  associates,  and  she  fought  alone. 

A  more  serious  criticism  of  British  radicalism  is  its 
failure  to  comprehend  the  significance  of  economic  fact. 
Poverty,  with  its  ever-present  attendants, — insufficiency  of 
food  and  over-taxation  of  the  body, — then  as  now  was  the 
common  enemy  which  humanity  must  face.  To  this '  fact 
the  radical  leaders  were  oblivious.  They  touched  economic 
problems,  it  is  true;  they  advocated  this  economic  reform 
and  that  economic  reform;  but  there  was  not  one  man  to 
say  that  the  enemy  is  poverty,  and  that,  poverty  is  caused 
first  by  the  waste  of  human  power  in  unintelligent  produc- 
tion ;  secondly,  by  the  inequitable  distribution  of  opportuni- 
ties. Not  only  was  there  no  one  to  say  this,  but  there 
was  none,  save  possibly  Spence  and  Godwin,  even  to  in- 
quire into  the  cause  of  those  three  brutalizing  burdens 
which  bear  down  mankind — low  wages,  long  hours,  and 
irregular  work. 

The  early  activities  of  the  radical  associations  were  well 
calculated  to  accomplish  their  aim.  Converts  to  the  cause 
must  be  won,  and  pressure  must  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  authorities.  The  leaders  of  the  radical  clubs  were 
aware  of  this  necessity,  and  in  the  main  faced  it  with  de- 
termination and  skill.  The  idea  of  a  convention  was  fea- 
sible; any  gathering  of  delegates  elected  from  a  great  num- 
ber of  widely-scattered  clubs  would,  at  least,  be  quite  as 
representative  of  the  people  as  the  five  hundred  squires 
assembled  at  Westminster.  But  the  London  Corresponding 
Society  erred  in  sending  delegates  to  Edinburgh.  A  larger 
and  more  representative  meeting  would  have  been  a  fairer 
test  of  radical  strength.     The  temptation  to  send  delegates, 


253]  CONCLUSION  253 

however,  was  a  strong  one,  and  so  unfortunately  the  im- 
petuosity of  Margarot  and  Gerrald  destroyed  all  possibil- 
ity, if  not  all  hope,  of  an  effective  convention  genuinely 
British. 

With  the  collapse  of  the  Edinburgh  undertaking  a  dis- 
tinct cleavage  appeared  in  radical  societies,  for  while  cer- 
tain members  undoubtedly  looked  forward  to  an  armed  in- 
surrection, others  refused  to  abandon  their  old  methods  of 
peaceable  propaganda.  The  wiser  radicals  belonged  to  the 
latter  number,  among  them  Hardy,  the  secretary  of  the 
London  Corresponding  Society,  Place,  Ashfield  and  other 
prominent  members.  They  were  not  only  aware  of  the 
younger  Pitt's  intelligence,  but  also  of  his  determination. 
Pitt  comprehended  clearly  the  problem  which  confronted 
him.  However  possible  moderate  reform  might  have  been 
in  1789  or  1790,  it  was  not  possible  in  1793.  Radicalism, 
if  it  was  not  to  triumph,  must  be  crushed.  Pitt  chose  to 
crush  it,  and  he  did  so  effectively.  Meanwhile  the  irrecon- 
cilables,  underestimating  the  strength  of  the  government, 
continued  to  devise  their  revolutionary  schemes.  Of  neces- 
city,  however,  their  plans  were  discussed  with  the  greatest 
secrecy,  and  history  finds  but  little  to  chronicle. 

Nevertheless,  although  their  theories  may  have  been  chi- 
merical and  quixotic,  their  activities  ill-advised  and  pre- 
mature, the  British  radicals;  both  opportunists  and  irrecon- 
cilables;  were  rebels,  and  at  times  rebellion  is  justifiable. 
What  though  their  rebellion  was  unsuccessful,  it  was  at 
least  a  premonitory  rumble  of  disaster  to  that  serene  and 
cushioned  security  so  characteristic  of  entrenched  privi- 
lege in  England. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I.  PRIMARY  SOURCES 

Certain  of  the  better  known  historical  sources  of  our  period  as,  for 
instance,  the  Dropmore  papers,  with  their  wealth  of  diplomatic  cor- 
respondence, are,  for  the  purpose  of  this  dissertation,  well-nigh  use- 
less. On  the  other  hand,  an  abundance  of  material  of  especial  merit 
is  to  be  found.  First,  of  course,  is  the  invaluable  Place  collection  of 
original  manuscripts,  which  contains  the  minutes  of  the  London  Cor- 
responding Society;  letters  to  and  from  its  officials,  together  with 
many  rare  pamphlets  and  broadsides.  Second  only  to  the  Place  manu- 
scripts are  the  newspaper  files  for  the  seven  years  under  discussion. 
Not  only  do  they  contain  incidents  and  occurrences  which  escaped  the 
attention  of  the  "  Annual  Register,"  but  also  in  them  may  be  studied 
the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  times,  more  realistically  reflected  than  in 
any  other  source.  Finally,  the  pamphlet  literature  of  the  period  is 
unusually  rich  in  both  quantity  and  quality.  A  majority  of  these 
pamphlets,  to  be  sure,  are  of  purely  transitory  interest.  The  law  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest  has  no  application  in  the  pamphlet  world, 
for  those  tracts  and  broadsides  which  relate  to  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic discussion  are  among  the  more  difficult  to  obtain.  Indeed,  if 
it  were  not  for  Professor  E.  R.  A.  Seligman,  of  Columbia  University, 
many  of  these  pamphlets  might  have  been  lost  altogether.  In  his 
library  in  New  York  City  is  perhaps  the  finest  private  collection  of  this 
type  of  literature  in  the  world,  for  in  it  are  several  publications  not 
to  be  found  even  in  the  British  Museum.  Professor  Seligman's  library 
has  been  very  kindly  thrown  open  to  the  author,  who  has  found  there 
many  sources  elsewhere  unavailable. 

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1793- 
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254  [254 


255]  BIBLIOGRAPHY  255 

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256  BIBLIOGRAPHY  [256 

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